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The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings
Alternate cover edition for 9780553213751
The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader is an anthology of fiction by one of America's most important feminist writers. Probably best known as the author of "The Yellow Wallpaper," in which a woman is driven mad by chauvinist psychiatry, Gilman wrote numerous other short stories and novels reflecting her radical socialist and feminist view of turn-of-the-century America. Collected here by the noted Gilman scholar Ann J. Lane are eighteen stories and fragments, including a selection from Herland, Gilman's novel of a feminist utopia. The resulting anthology provides a provocative blueprint to Gilman's intellectual and creative production.
Content:
The yellow wallpaper
If I were a man
Turned
The cottagette
An honest woman
Making a change
Mr. Peebles' heart
The widow's might
Selections from Herland
Selections from Women and economics : a study of the economic relation between men and women
Selections from The man-made world : our androcentric culture.
The Charlotte Perkins Gilman Reader is an anthology of fiction by one of America's most important feminist writers. Probably best known as the author of "The Yellow Wallpaper," in which a woman is driven mad by chauvinist psychiatry, Gilman wrote numerous other short stories and novels reflecting her radical socialist and feminist view of turn-of-the-century America. Collected here by the noted Gilman scholar Ann J. Lane are eighteen stories and fragments, including a selection from Herland, Gilman's novel of a feminist utopia. The resulting anthology provides a provocative blueprint to Gilman's intellectual and creative production.
Content:
The yellow wallpaper
If I were a man
Turned
The cottagette
An honest woman
Making a change
Mr. Peebles' heart
The widow's might
Selections from Herland
Selections from Women and economics : a study of the economic relation between men and women
Selections from The man-made world : our androcentric culture.
240 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 1989
About the author
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
773 books1,730 followersCharlotte Perkins Gilman, also known as Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered work today is her semi-autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper", which she wrote after a severe bout of post-partum depression.
She was the daughter of Frederic B. Perkins.
She was the daughter of Frederic B. Perkins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
December 17, 2015
I'm giving this particular edition four stars because the selections it chose to include from Gilman's bibliography saved me a lot of time and questioning whether I should read her other works. The issue with her is common to many -ists and -ologists and general term for thinkers of that time period (which hasn't yet ended judging by the state of things today) who confuse rationality with shock value when it comes to any other reality outside of their own. As such, worded solipsism is taken as universal truth, analogies drawn from "Chinamen" and "savages" are as seriously evaluated as those derived from bees and horses, and valuable insights are inextricably intermixed with pontifications that made me want to gouge my eyes and sensibilities out with a rusty spoon. In light of that, actions speak louder than words, in the sense that the story of her life proves much more admirable than the majority of her work. She may have been the type of feminist who only did the work due to socially constructed limits rather than holistic realization, but some of what she says is worthy of merit, and as a white woman who escapes the majority of her contemptuous stereotyping, I may as well relay the good bits back to those who would be fully in the right in throwing this book across the room.
Gilman is the most well known for her short and sweet tale of descending into madness which, of course, duh. The archetype of crazy-white-woman has ever been of superb appeal to academia, an appeal that chooses to indulge in the thematic structure of horror, the metaphorical constructions, any and all thought processes that need not concern themselves with the grittier aspects of postpartum depression and the lack of the vote which colored Gilman's composition. This in particular is why I'm very pleased with this edition, of which The Yellow Wallpaper is only one of eight short stories that are further ameliorated by selections from Herland, Women and Economics, and The Man-Made World. Much as the intersection of major depressive disorder with being a white woman concerns me on an intimate level, I am far more interested in mental methodologies that construct themselves in response than in lurid fictions of the experience itself. I have enough of that in my personal life without looking for it in critical theory.
Gilman is the most well known for her short and sweet tale of descending into madness which, of course, duh. The archetype of crazy-white-woman has ever been of superb appeal to academia, an appeal that chooses to indulge in the thematic structure of horror, the metaphorical constructions, any and all thought processes that need not concern themselves with the grittier aspects of postpartum depression and the lack of the vote which colored Gilman's composition. This in particular is why I'm very pleased with this edition, of which The Yellow Wallpaper is only one of eight short stories that are further ameliorated by selections from Herland, Women and Economics, and The Man-Made World. Much as the intersection of major depressive disorder with being a white woman concerns me on an intimate level, I am far more interested in mental methodologies that construct themselves in response than in lurid fictions of the experience itself. I have enough of that in my personal life without looking for it in critical theory.
Men who are not equal to good fatherhood under such conditions will have no chance to become fathers, and will die with general pity instead of living with general condemnation.In regards to her short stories outside of The Yellow Wallpaper, the worth lies in her subversion of the canon of female characters who always do a certain thing a certain way that fits exactly with their flighty/jealous/nervous/weakened/kittenish/obtuse/male worshipping/etc etc etc aspects which, of course, are bullshit. The appeal of Gilman is how easily she makes the contrast, an ease that, similar to the Bechdel test, would lend itself well to progress if people stopped pretending conscious gynephobia was the only indicator of misogyny or that the canon was anything but really old made up stuff whose modification will not indeed, as protested by many a fanboy, cause the end of the world. Not the prettiest prose or craftiest of structuring and all that jazz, but the most impressive of linguistic fireworks won't rid the world of rape culture.
A family is a crude aggregate of persons of different ages, sizes, sexes, and temperaments, held together by sex-ties and economic necessity; and the affection which should exist between the members of a family is not increased in the least by the economic pressure, rather it is lessened.Condemns the patriarchy while embracing patriarchal methods of reasoning, confuses personal gender with socially constructed ideologies in efforts to "solve" everything, half-heartedly wags a finger at capitalism and individualistic culture without acknowledging personal privilege, backhand compliments socialism and collectivist culture through Orientalist thinking and idealization of "motherhood", dangerously ignorant on matters of abused/Chinese/indigenous/any woman whose category she does not share, etc, etc. Still worth reading for when she hits the nail on the head in ways reminiscent of de Beauvoir, leastwise to me and my methods of evaluation. You may, of course, refuse to read her due to my criticisms. Just make sure you apply such choosing to all the white men running around the canonical mainstream who don't even have the advantage of being a woman to lend them some instinctive paradigm shifts.
October 4, 2022
A short story about a woman’s descent into madness, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is regarded as an important American feminist literary writing of the 19th century.
It tells us the story of a couple spending one summer at a colonial mansion. The husband, who works as a physician, feels that a change in the environment—coupled with enough rest—will suit his wife, whom he has diagnosed with “temporary nervous depression” after giving birth to their child. He forbids her to do anything that will require her to stimulate her body and mind and dismisses most of her thoughts as silly and insignificant. They occupy a room in the mansion that is adorned with yellow wallpaper, and soon the wife becomes obsessed with it. She spends time writing about it in her diary—detailing its smell, its pattern, the yellow stain that she imagines gets imprinted on her hands every time she touches it, and even the way the wallpaper seems to mutate itself. She also starts envisioning a woman trapped behind those yellow walls, and tries to free her by tearing the wallpaper off. The husband arrives at that exact moment when his wife is creeping around the room, and faints at the sight of her crawling and looking devoid of sanity.
The story is narrated in a first-person manner, giving us a glimpse of the narrator’s (the wife's) thoughts and sentiments. She talks about everyone’s refusal to heed her thoughts and her aversion to her confinement. Her husband, although doting and kind, lacks the insight (or probably is still in denial) to acknowledge that there is something wrong with his wife. We now know that the wife suffers from postpartum depression/psychosis, but in her time, it is merely regarded as melancholia, and patients suffering from this malady were only often subjected to the "rest cure" treatment. The husband-physician also often dismisses his wife’s ruminations as trivial, thinking that rest is the only thing she ever needs. It is his and everyone else’s indifference that drives his wife to stop sharing her thoughts with anyone, isolate herself, and eventually go crazy.
The story is a protest against the ineffectual “rest cure” treatment of their time, as well as the patriarchal system that gives little or no room at all for women to express themselves. It gives us a harrowing insight into what it feels like to be powerless, get driven off from any purposeful stimulation, or even suffer the stigma of mental illness as it still happens today. Some also think that the ending, however morbid, is a symbolic representation of women asserting their rights and rising over patriarchy because the wife has finally done something of her own will.
Overall, 4 stars. It is a well-written story, but an uncomfortable read for me.
It tells us the story of a couple spending one summer at a colonial mansion. The husband, who works as a physician, feels that a change in the environment—coupled with enough rest—will suit his wife, whom he has diagnosed with “temporary nervous depression” after giving birth to their child. He forbids her to do anything that will require her to stimulate her body and mind and dismisses most of her thoughts as silly and insignificant. They occupy a room in the mansion that is adorned with yellow wallpaper, and soon the wife becomes obsessed with it. She spends time writing about it in her diary—detailing its smell, its pattern, the yellow stain that she imagines gets imprinted on her hands every time she touches it, and even the way the wallpaper seems to mutate itself. She also starts envisioning a woman trapped behind those yellow walls, and tries to free her by tearing the wallpaper off. The husband arrives at that exact moment when his wife is creeping around the room, and faints at the sight of her crawling and looking devoid of sanity.
The story is narrated in a first-person manner, giving us a glimpse of the narrator’s (the wife's) thoughts and sentiments. She talks about everyone’s refusal to heed her thoughts and her aversion to her confinement. Her husband, although doting and kind, lacks the insight (or probably is still in denial) to acknowledge that there is something wrong with his wife. We now know that the wife suffers from postpartum depression/psychosis, but in her time, it is merely regarded as melancholia, and patients suffering from this malady were only often subjected to the "rest cure" treatment. The husband-physician also often dismisses his wife’s ruminations as trivial, thinking that rest is the only thing she ever needs. It is his and everyone else’s indifference that drives his wife to stop sharing her thoughts with anyone, isolate herself, and eventually go crazy.
The story is a protest against the ineffectual “rest cure” treatment of their time, as well as the patriarchal system that gives little or no room at all for women to express themselves. It gives us a harrowing insight into what it feels like to be powerless, get driven off from any purposeful stimulation, or even suffer the stigma of mental illness as it still happens today. Some also think that the ending, however morbid, is a symbolic representation of women asserting their rights and rising over patriarchy because the wife has finally done something of her own will.
Overall, 4 stars. It is a well-written story, but an uncomfortable read for me.
January 23, 2012
Perkins was a bold, outspoken, extremely intelligent early feminist. We really do stand on the shoulders of these courageous women. This is a collection of short stories, excerpts from her novel, and excerpts from some of her nonfiction feminist social commentary.
I didn't care much for The Yellow Wallpaper story, but everything else in the book is excellent. I know The Yellow Wallpaper is considered some sort of classic, but I really wasn't impressed. It's only 18 pages, so worth the read for curiosity's sake.
I didn't care much for The Yellow Wallpaper story, but everything else in the book is excellent. I know The Yellow Wallpaper is considered some sort of classic, but I really wasn't impressed. It's only 18 pages, so worth the read for curiosity's sake.
March 24, 2021
3 stars *may change
my mom randomly sent me a copy of this so i thought i might as well give it a shot
my mom randomly sent me a copy of this so i thought i might as well give it a shot
June 2, 2014
It's unbelievable how pertinent these short stories are today, over 100 years since they we're written. Five stars for all of the short stories. I loved them all.
But the book also contained essays. And while Charlotte Perkins Gilman was clearly a remarkable woman--ahead of her time, brilliant, and lucid in her writing--these essays didn't age as well as the short stories.
I didn't know anything at all about the author before I picked this up, but I started to get a weird feeling as I read the essays, so I looked her up. I was so disappointed to find that she had such problematic views on race. I get that she's from a different time, but she's so modern in her thinking on women, that I expected more from her.
But the book also contained essays. And while Charlotte Perkins Gilman was clearly a remarkable woman--ahead of her time, brilliant, and lucid in her writing--these essays didn't age as well as the short stories.
I didn't know anything at all about the author before I picked this up, but I started to get a weird feeling as I read the essays, so I looked her up. I was so disappointed to find that she had such problematic views on race. I get that she's from a different time, but she's so modern in her thinking on women, that I expected more from her.
November 24, 2020
The Yellow Wallpaper is haunting and evocative, and well worth whatever efforts are needed to read it. It is so far ahead of its time not only in structure but in subject matter. Go read it!
The rest of the short stories in the book are also enjoyable, especially whenever she starts talking about business ideas and commerce!
The works that were edited down to fit into the paperback were not as good, but that may have been the editors fault as opposed to CPG's writings. The editor only included 4 chapters of the story Herland, and those chapters focus mostly on presenting the differences between the world where the men come from and this new land inhabited only by women. I would like to actually read the full version of the story that I beleive has more nuance than what was presented.
The rest of the short stories in the book are also enjoyable, especially whenever she starts talking about business ideas and commerce!
The works that were edited down to fit into the paperback were not as good, but that may have been the editors fault as opposed to CPG's writings. The editor only included 4 chapters of the story Herland, and those chapters focus mostly on presenting the differences between the world where the men come from and this new land inhabited only by women. I would like to actually read the full version of the story that I beleive has more nuance than what was presented.
![Profile Image for ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...].](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1572968006i/3840999._UX200_CR0,33,200,200_.jpg)
September 20, 2011
This review is not exactly a ‘review’ in that sense, rather my analysis from my MA dissertation on The Yellow Wallpaper (only). I loved it; it made me sad and depressed, still I loved it. CPG was an extraordinary writer. I hope to read more of her works soon. I've mentioned the page numbers of the lines I’ve quoted/referred to. I used this same edition from Bantam so they should be the same. The reference to Conrad Shumaker’s ‘colored belief’ is taken from his journal “Too Terribly Good to Be Printed: Charlotte Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper”, which is available at JSTOR.
***********
This story, in the simplest of words, can be stated as the journey of a young woman towards insanity with the help of her husband, the doctor. This unnamed young woman just became a mother and was suffering from post-partum depression, which in the book is described by her husband as “temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency (p. 2)”. Her imagination is termed as “false and foolish fancy (p. 12)”. Her suffering is soothed by her husband’s words such as “blessed little goose (p. 10)” who imagines too many silly fancies! So, in the first two pages she keeps questioning herself “What can one do? (p. 2)”. It seems there is indeed no one to hear her out.
The narrator, who starts out quite sane with the descriptions of the place where she is supposed to ‘rest’ and be ‘cured’, soon finds herself vacillating between all sorts of confusions and contradictions. In the end, she becomes consumed by insanity. A house-wife, she has become a resident of a colonial mansion her husband has rented thinking that, the air, the scenery and the exercise while taking rest would help cure her of her ailment of “nervous condition” (p. 2). At this point, we see this woman is fairly balanced, even if a bit depressed. She talks about the place, the house, the surrounding areas and also her uneasiness about living in this place as she mentions that “there is something queer” about this house. She talks about her daily routine and how her husband “loves/cares” for her, a fact that could be easily termed as “colored belief” (Shumaker, 1985, p. 594), as we find out later. This is ironic because we most often than not find her hesitant about her husband, she is never comfortable discussing her illness, fears, beliefs with him. He is forever contradicting her and telling her to get rid of her “foolish fancies”, or else, he warns her, would send her to Weir Mitchell (p. 8). At first she tries to suppress her fancies but it became soon clear that he has no interest in her opinions.
She talks about her baby sometimes, but she never shows any outpouring of affection for her child. At one point she says it makes her nervous to be with him (p. 5).
Gradually, she begins to focus on the wallpaper of the room although she starts with her description of the room, something she had taken instant dislike of. And then was that wallpaper, which in her opinion has committed “every artistic sin” (p. 4). She tells us the color is “repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow...” (p. 4) Then we find her studying the wallpaper whenever no one was around. It starts overwhelming her in every sense. Her husband, John, is not at home most of the time, since he has to visit his patients. The only people around are the nurse Mary and her sister-in-law come caretaker Jenny. Jenny is a female version of her brother who thinks all the writing is making her sick. (p. 7)
John (or her brother or even Weir Mitchell) has the overbearing attitude of a typical husband (or a male). He does not care much about his wife’s silly imagination and being a doctor himself, not to mention an arrogant boor, he thinks she is doing perfectly fine. It does not matter to him that she is always confined in that ugly room or that she thinks she needs more stimulation, that it might do her some permanent damage. She wants to meet relations but he will not let her. She wants to change to a different room but he sidetracks her by telling her some clap-trap about moving to the cellar if that is what she wanted. To John, his wife’s objection to the ugliness of the paper is “just a whim” (p. 5). He goes on denying every single thing that should have come to him as some sort of concern about his wife’s welfare; he never understand or simply chose to ignore them until the inevitable finally happens.
Eventually, the narrator becomes more depressed and withdrawn, which led her to her insistent inspection of the wallpaper. She says, “I cry at nothing, and I cry most of the time” (p. 8). She starts seeing various things in the patterns. Sometimes it is just some ugly pattern jeering at her, sometimes something that is “florid arabesque” (p. 12) or like a cluster of fungus. She starts following the wallpaper day and night, narrating how it looks different to her in the first ray of sunlight or in the cold moonlit night. She sees various expressions in the wallpaper, all mocking her. She tells us it makes her mad with anger and she will not rest until she finds out all about this pattern. Then one day, she starts seeing a woman (sometimes many) inside the patterns, who, it seems to her, is locked behind the bars. Those patterns hold that woman inside. The narrator gets scared and even pleads to John to take her away from that place but he, being the “husband”, sidetracks her again by showing anger.
Then we find that her writing is getting more and more troubled and unstable, mostly one-liners, which leads us to believe that she is coming closer and closer to a breakdown. Her constant fight with all those confusions and contradictions along with the depression gets the upper hand. She talks about the woman constantly, and also how she always has to stay in her room and rest all the time! But she never really rests, therefore she watches that “woman behind the bars”. The narrator admits that the woman creeps everywhere, even outside but she herself would never resort to such a measure. She would never creep outside where others could see her. She creeps on the floor inside her room and behind locked doors! And she knows she has to free “the woman behind the bars,” for which she has to destroy the wallpaper that keeps the woman barred inside.
The day they were supposed to leave the mansion, John finds his wife has locked herself inside her room. As he unlocks the door, he finds her creeping on her hands and knees, telling him, “I've got out at last, […] in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!” (p. 20)
John faints witnessing such horror!
**********
Now, mine might read from a feminist POV but there weren’t any other way to explain what this woman went through. The writing was compelling, as I've already mentioned but what I found most fascinating was the whole spooky atmosphere; the way CPG connected the transformation of the wallpaper (from the narrators POV) with the woman’s own so-called ‘transformation’. Only in the end we aren’t spooked by a real ghost!
You might be interested in the following (if you haven’t already read this of course):
Why I wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman...
It helped me a lot, along with her short biography that accompanies this edition, to understand where she stood as she wrote this short story. Not everyone will like/enjoy it though, I know that so I wouldn’t recommend it to you if you’re looking for something light and fun. This story is NOT ‘light and fun’ and not for the faint of hearts as well. A big 5 star.
***********
This story, in the simplest of words, can be stated as the journey of a young woman towards insanity with the help of her husband, the doctor. This unnamed young woman just became a mother and was suffering from post-partum depression, which in the book is described by her husband as “temporary nervous depression--a slight hysterical tendency (p. 2)”. Her imagination is termed as “false and foolish fancy (p. 12)”. Her suffering is soothed by her husband’s words such as “blessed little goose (p. 10)” who imagines too many silly fancies! So, in the first two pages she keeps questioning herself “What can one do? (p. 2)”. It seems there is indeed no one to hear her out.
The narrator, who starts out quite sane with the descriptions of the place where she is supposed to ‘rest’ and be ‘cured’, soon finds herself vacillating between all sorts of confusions and contradictions. In the end, she becomes consumed by insanity. A house-wife, she has become a resident of a colonial mansion her husband has rented thinking that, the air, the scenery and the exercise while taking rest would help cure her of her ailment of “nervous condition” (p. 2). At this point, we see this woman is fairly balanced, even if a bit depressed. She talks about the place, the house, the surrounding areas and also her uneasiness about living in this place as she mentions that “there is something queer” about this house. She talks about her daily routine and how her husband “loves/cares” for her, a fact that could be easily termed as “colored belief” (Shumaker, 1985, p. 594), as we find out later. This is ironic because we most often than not find her hesitant about her husband, she is never comfortable discussing her illness, fears, beliefs with him. He is forever contradicting her and telling her to get rid of her “foolish fancies”, or else, he warns her, would send her to Weir Mitchell (p. 8). At first she tries to suppress her fancies but it became soon clear that he has no interest in her opinions.
She talks about her baby sometimes, but she never shows any outpouring of affection for her child. At one point she says it makes her nervous to be with him (p. 5).
Gradually, she begins to focus on the wallpaper of the room although she starts with her description of the room, something she had taken instant dislike of. And then was that wallpaper, which in her opinion has committed “every artistic sin” (p. 4). She tells us the color is “repellent, almost revolting; a smoldering unclean yellow...” (p. 4) Then we find her studying the wallpaper whenever no one was around. It starts overwhelming her in every sense. Her husband, John, is not at home most of the time, since he has to visit his patients. The only people around are the nurse Mary and her sister-in-law come caretaker Jenny. Jenny is a female version of her brother who thinks all the writing is making her sick. (p. 7)
John (or her brother or even Weir Mitchell) has the overbearing attitude of a typical husband (or a male). He does not care much about his wife’s silly imagination and being a doctor himself, not to mention an arrogant boor, he thinks she is doing perfectly fine. It does not matter to him that she is always confined in that ugly room or that she thinks she needs more stimulation, that it might do her some permanent damage. She wants to meet relations but he will not let her. She wants to change to a different room but he sidetracks her by telling her some clap-trap about moving to the cellar if that is what she wanted. To John, his wife’s objection to the ugliness of the paper is “just a whim” (p. 5). He goes on denying every single thing that should have come to him as some sort of concern about his wife’s welfare; he never understand or simply chose to ignore them until the inevitable finally happens.
Eventually, the narrator becomes more depressed and withdrawn, which led her to her insistent inspection of the wallpaper. She says, “I cry at nothing, and I cry most of the time” (p. 8). She starts seeing various things in the patterns. Sometimes it is just some ugly pattern jeering at her, sometimes something that is “florid arabesque” (p. 12) or like a cluster of fungus. She starts following the wallpaper day and night, narrating how it looks different to her in the first ray of sunlight or in the cold moonlit night. She sees various expressions in the wallpaper, all mocking her. She tells us it makes her mad with anger and she will not rest until she finds out all about this pattern. Then one day, she starts seeing a woman (sometimes many) inside the patterns, who, it seems to her, is locked behind the bars. Those patterns hold that woman inside. The narrator gets scared and even pleads to John to take her away from that place but he, being the “husband”, sidetracks her again by showing anger.
Then we find that her writing is getting more and more troubled and unstable, mostly one-liners, which leads us to believe that she is coming closer and closer to a breakdown. Her constant fight with all those confusions and contradictions along with the depression gets the upper hand. She talks about the woman constantly, and also how she always has to stay in her room and rest all the time! But she never really rests, therefore she watches that “woman behind the bars”. The narrator admits that the woman creeps everywhere, even outside but she herself would never resort to such a measure. She would never creep outside where others could see her. She creeps on the floor inside her room and behind locked doors! And she knows she has to free “the woman behind the bars,” for which she has to destroy the wallpaper that keeps the woman barred inside.
The day they were supposed to leave the mansion, John finds his wife has locked herself inside her room. As he unlocks the door, he finds her creeping on her hands and knees, telling him, “I've got out at last, […] in spite of you and Jane. And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!” (p. 20)
John faints witnessing such horror!
**********
Now, mine might read from a feminist POV but there weren’t any other way to explain what this woman went through. The writing was compelling, as I've already mentioned but what I found most fascinating was the whole spooky atmosphere; the way CPG connected the transformation of the wallpaper (from the narrators POV) with the woman’s own so-called ‘transformation’. Only in the end we aren’t spooked by a real ghost!
You might be interested in the following (if you haven’t already read this of course):
Why I wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman...
It helped me a lot, along with her short biography that accompanies this edition, to understand where she stood as she wrote this short story. Not everyone will like/enjoy it though, I know that so I wouldn’t recommend it to you if you’re looking for something light and fun. This story is NOT ‘light and fun’ and not for the faint of hearts as well. A big 5 star.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 24, 2019
This collection gives a good sense of the range of Gilman’s work, starting with her very disturbing short story, The Yellow Wallpaper, which operates as a straight-up horror story, as well as a commentary on the denial of the chance for productive work that women experience in patriarchal society.
The rest of the short stories are more uplifting, with women finding success and fulfillment through unconventional life paths, and occasional men who benefit from those choices as well.
I’ve previously read the complete version of Gilman’s utopian novel Herland. The excerpts presented here focus more on worldbuilding than plot, so they don’t give a full sense of the story. They do show some of the author’s ideas about education and communal childcare.
The last two segments contain excerpts from two of Gilman’s major nonfiction works: Women and Economics, and The Man-Made World. Although dated, the excerpts still contain some very compelling critique of patriarchy, and some intersecting ideas from feminism and socialism of the early 20th Century.
One interesting bit in one of her stories lamented the presence of pockets in men’s clothes, and the lack of them in women’s fashion, something that shows up frequently in memes well over a century later.
The rest of the short stories are more uplifting, with women finding success and fulfillment through unconventional life paths, and occasional men who benefit from those choices as well.
I’ve previously read the complete version of Gilman’s utopian novel Herland. The excerpts presented here focus more on worldbuilding than plot, so they don’t give a full sense of the story. They do show some of the author’s ideas about education and communal childcare.
The last two segments contain excerpts from two of Gilman’s major nonfiction works: Women and Economics, and The Man-Made World. Although dated, the excerpts still contain some very compelling critique of patriarchy, and some intersecting ideas from feminism and socialism of the early 20th Century.
One interesting bit in one of her stories lamented the presence of pockets in men’s clothes, and the lack of them in women’s fashion, something that shows up frequently in memes well over a century later.
December 26, 2016
The Yellow Wall-paper is a hands down classic, and still relevant even to a contemporary reader. Some of the other stories in the collection also have a subversive tone, but those that were blander dragged it down.
February 26, 2023
as my introduction to feminism, this book was really thought provoking.
unfortunately, i found the other stories to be lacking compared to turned and if i were a man. i was really looking forward to her most popular work, the yellow wallpaper, but found that it ended too short to be well developed ( at least i liked her representation of depression )
unfortunately, i found the other stories to be lacking compared to turned and if i were a man. i was really looking forward to her most popular work, the yellow wallpaper, but found that it ended too short to be well developed ( at least i liked her representation of depression )
April 16, 2024
(4.75) Pulled an absurd amount of quotes from this collection of stories/chapters. CPG may be remembered as a questionable character in some significant regards, however her commentary on human-ness and its link to womanhood is timeless and important.
August 4, 2019
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was ahead of her time. She divorced her first husband, re-married and committed suicide when she knew she had terminal cancer.
The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman who has depression and her husband who is a physician prescribes her to rest and do nothing. She wants to write but isn't allowed to for more than an hour a day and she becomes preoccupied with the yellow wallpaper.
I enjoyed the main short story and can see why it's acclaimed so one of her best. Great writing which is laced with much sarcasm towards man's opinion of mental health. I enjoyed the next few stories too as they were full of passion about the lack of women's rights.
Herland was fantastic and reminded me a bit of The Power by Naomi Alderton but it is more peaceful. I struggled with the last two which were about economics etc. They were just a bit too heavy going for me in show week but were still interesting.
Overall very enjoyable. Highly recommended if you want to read classic feminist writing.
The Yellow Wallpaper is about a woman who has depression and her husband who is a physician prescribes her to rest and do nothing. She wants to write but isn't allowed to for more than an hour a day and she becomes preoccupied with the yellow wallpaper.
I enjoyed the main short story and can see why it's acclaimed so one of her best. Great writing which is laced with much sarcasm towards man's opinion of mental health. I enjoyed the next few stories too as they were full of passion about the lack of women's rights.
Herland was fantastic and reminded me a bit of The Power by Naomi Alderton but it is more peaceful. I struggled with the last two which were about economics etc. They were just a bit too heavy going for me in show week but were still interesting.
Overall very enjoyable. Highly recommended if you want to read classic feminist writing.
December 17, 2011
Leave it to a sociologist to create such a brilliant insight into the perseverative nature of the intrusive thoughts that create what clinicians call "mental illness." From where do these thoughts come? Is their origin internal or external - or a combination of both? This story reminds me of Bergman's classic film "Through a Glass Darkly," a troubling look at a young woman's descent into a cycle of madness. Though set in very different times and places, both tales describe terrifying situations where escape seems impossible and hope is constantly just out of reach. If we are to help those with debilitating mental illnesses, it is crucial that we all are able to appropriately empathize with the person and their suffering. We must avoid the common pitfall of blaming the victim, which only further stigmatizes an already misunderstood population and fails to have any positive benefit.
February 16, 2015
I don't know what just happened to my review. Moving forward, I feel that Charlotte Gilman had something to say in her own right. After reading Motherhood, (and the book itself) I agree with some of her views, others I do not. This probably has something to do with the era we now live in, and the fact that a woman's place in society has changed...somewhat. I feel that, "somewhat," should suffice in some areas. If it was possible for Gilman and I to discuss my, "some areas," I'm sure she'd be angered and I would be adjudged a fool. 2.5*
January 18, 2012
I first read this in an Intro to Women's Studies course an though I "got it," I didn't very much like it. It grew on me to the point where I eventually taught the book. In reading TYW, you have to transport yourself to a time and place to really think about the effects of a life lived the way the main characters' life was and how that may have affected her emotionally. Descent into madness, indeed!
November 18, 2020
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a superb short story writer and needs more recognition. The "Yellow Wallpaper" is breathtaking both thematically and structurally, particularly for 1891 (!). Her other short stories are also very very good. She excels at characterization and is the rare writer focusing on male-female relations who writes both men and women extremely well.
The economic analysis, unfortunately, does not hit the same standard. Interesting only as historical pieces.
The economic analysis, unfortunately, does not hit the same standard. Interesting only as historical pieces.
October 20, 2018
The standout in this book of short stories is The Yellow Wallpaper, an amazing account of a woman descending into insanity. You can download a copy of the story for free on Amazon - I highly recommend it. The other stories in the collection are OK, but much more straightforwardly political.
July 24, 2020
Thought provoking short stories ranging from horror, sci-fi and fantasy to economic thesis from a proto-feminist...20 years before the Women's suffrage movement. Favorite quote: "they were inconveniently reasonable, those women!"
November 5, 2007
A must-read for any feminist.
February 16, 2011
I Absolutely Loved Every Page Of It!
May 1, 2020
Loved it! Highly recommended! This lady is splendid 😊 I never knew there was such a man... Feminist without dragging men through the mud 🙂
August 15, 2023
i bought this book wanting to read the yellow wallpaper, which i didn’t realize was just 20 pages of a 240 page collection. like most collections, this was a big old mixed bag. except for the yellow wallpaper, which lived up to the hype, all the short stories were totally skippable. they were simple and repetitive, probably by design, but to such a degree that i struggled to finish the book. the shift back to interesting stuff happened with the non-fiction at the end. overall, this book is definitely marked by its time and circumstances (queue comments on racial insensitivity and lack of intersectionality generally) but in the good parts i found there to be a lot of eternally revenant and even ahead of their time observations about human nature and gender roles. there seems to be the start of some awareness of gender as a social construct, her thoughts on the home were unique and very interesting, and a lot of the more dated stuff brought up interesting questions about gender today. i especially appreciated the stuff about politics and capitalism (who’s surprised?). she argues that masculinity is fundamentally at odds with democracy, which should be working for the common good and not through a system of opposition, and that the division of men and women during that time as acting only in the roles of supply and demand (respectively) fostered the unnatural selfish instinct that drives capitalism (accompanied by the only other piece of semi-compelling fiction about an all-female communist utopia that worships motherhood as a motivator and religion). the forward (equally as divided between being a total slog and making interesting points) talks a lot about gilman’s optimism, and i would say that’s one of the best parts of this collection. as much as she critiques the fundamental assumptions of modern life, she also offers a lot of alternatives driven by an inherently positive view of human nature, which is really great sometimes!
March 13, 2024
Yellow. The color associated with brightness and sun and happiness, can also associate itself with illness.
This story is about a couple moving into a glorious, matured mansion, that is equal parts in the state of ruin and in a state of charming beauty. We are reading the writings of The Wife, and her slow descent into madness.
The writing was very old-timey, which I liked, and the POV stuck very close to a woman who is on the verge of a mental breakdown. The sentences are abrupt and scattered, and get worse as the pages turn.
The downfall is that this is very short (21 pages) and I would have liked a bit more context other than constant descriptions of wallpaper. I get why it was described so much, but some balance in the storytelling would’ve made this a more complete story.
Overall, an enjoyable quick read that makes you read between the lines.
This story is about a couple moving into a glorious, matured mansion, that is equal parts in the state of ruin and in a state of charming beauty. We are reading the writings of The Wife, and her slow descent into madness.
The writing was very old-timey, which I liked, and the POV stuck very close to a woman who is on the verge of a mental breakdown. The sentences are abrupt and scattered, and get worse as the pages turn.
The downfall is that this is very short (21 pages) and I would have liked a bit more context other than constant descriptions of wallpaper. I get why it was described so much, but some balance in the storytelling would’ve made this a more complete story.
Overall, an enjoyable quick read that makes you read between the lines.
April 7, 2024
I'm struggling to finish this book--it contains one very good story, The Yellow Wallpaper, and then a couple hundred pages demonstrating why the only thing anybody's ever read by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is The Yellow Wallpaper. None of her other stories (and certainly none of her nonfiction) hold a candle to that story, and, while socially relevant to her time, are so specifically directed at people of a certain social class at a specific time period that they lose the general relevance necessary for something to be readable beyond its time.
April 4, 2024
I own this copy and I loved every single page. Despite it's age, her commentaries on feminism are just as relevant now as they were then. Not only are her stories entertaining, deliciously morbid, inspiring, etc, they also provide an impactful glimpse into what life was like for women of her time. I started with the Yellow Wallpaper in high school as most people do and got hooked on the rest of her work, which is all just as good. I love her so much. Would read again 100%.
April 18, 2024
Apart from 'The Yellow Wallpaper' the rest of the short stories were simple-minded and pretty boring.
The two non-fiction collections I found to be very fascinating, some of her theories voiced my internal conflicts; others not so much.
NOW the fiction novel 'Herland' that I found to be the best writing in the selection. It made me dream and it made me angry. Plan on reading the whole novel one day.
The two non-fiction collections I found to be very fascinating, some of her theories voiced my internal conflicts; others not so much.
NOW the fiction novel 'Herland' that I found to be the best writing in the selection. It made me dream and it made me angry. Plan on reading the whole novel one day.
February 21, 2024
Short stories written by the niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe. An early feminist--she writes with a strong perspective on the inequities women face and what they give up to be domestic caregivers. As a sidenote--the men in her stories are also losing good companionship when they infantilize the women in their lives.
January 8, 2023
Loved The Yellow Wallpaper but a lot of the dated first-wave feminism themes got repetitive in the other stories and the eugenics was gross. 5/5 for The Yellow Wallpaper, 3/5 for If I Were a Man, 1/5 (max) for everything else
February 14, 2023
gonna go ahead and put this one down. four stars for the short stories + Herland excerpt; they were awesome. the essays were hard to get through though when i'd rather just be reading something else.
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