The Yellow Wallpaper » (Unabridged)

University of Washington, Seattle

In this classic late-nineteenth-century story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a new mother suffering from what we might today call 'post-partum depression', is diagnosed with a nervous disorder.

Instructed to abandon her intellectual life and avoid stimulating company, she sinks into a still-deeper depression invisible to her husband, who believes he knows what is best for her. Alone in the yellow-wallpapered nursery of a rented house, she descends into madness.

Booknews

Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" was first published in 1892; since its republication in 1973, it has entered the canon of American literature and generated extensive critical commentary. This edition of the story is accompanied by a generous selection of cultural and historical documents, among them: excerpts from 19th- century advice manuals for young women and mothers; medical texts discussing the nature of women's sexuality; social reform literature concerning women's rights, the working classes, and immigration; and excerpts from periodicals, diaries, and writers' notebooks. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.