Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wall-paper

Denise Knight (SUNY, Cortland)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1892

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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First published in

New England Magazine

in January 1892, and reprinted by Small, Maynard, & Co. as a chapbook (1899),

The Yellow Wall-Paper

is Charlotte Perkins Gilman's most famous work. Depicting the nervous breakdown of a young wife and mother, the story is a potent example of psychological realism. Based loosely on Gilman's own experiences in undergoing the rest cure for neurasthenia,

The Yellow Wall-Paper

documents the psychological torment of her fictional first-person narrator. The narrator's husband, John, a physician, prescribes isolation and inactivity as treatment for her illness, a “temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency.” John forbids his wife to engage in work of any kind, including writing. Despite his admonitions, however, the narrator records…

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451 words

Citation: Knight, Denise. "The Yellow Wall-paper". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8248, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wall-paper

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