The Yellow Wallpaper

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mint Editions (Contribution by)

Overview

First appearing in 1892 The Yellow Wallpaper is a searing vision of a distinctively feminine form of madness and commands attention as an arresting tale of horror and a moving look into a woman’s mind.

The story uncompromisingly thrusts the reader into the mind of the narrator. She is a woman forced, ostensibly for her own good, into a ‘rest cure’, a psychological straitjacket so constricting that she begins to unravel. Her mental dissolution is described with such fierce immediacy that The Yellow Wallpaper has been read and anthologized as a chilling horror tale. While it can easily be appreciated for its disorienting thrills, the story’s true resonance comes from its matter-of-fact portrayal of a woman pushed to the rim of sanity by society’s demands and her family’s utter inability to conceive of the fact that she cannot fit within their strictures. Shot through with unforgettable images of the yellow wallpaper, its shadowy depths and what seems to lurk there, The Yellow Wallpaper builds to a climax that combines the narrative impact of an Edgar Allan Poe story with a wrenching protest of the treatment of women. Unique and genre-bending, Gilman’s story was unrivaled in its era and its power endures undiminished today.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Yellow Wallpaper is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513264585
Publisher:	Mint Editions
Publication date:	10/08/2020
Series:	Mint Editions (In Their Own Words: Biographical and Autobiographical Narratives)
Pages:	22
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) was an American author, poet, lecturer and feminist. Experiencing depression and an inability to adjust to her life as a cloistered wife in American society of the late 19th century, she was prescribed a ‘rest cure’ which completely idled her for months and nearly drove her mad. This experience inspired her most highly regarded work, The Yellow Wallpaper, but Gilman went on to write several other noted books, including Women and Economics and the feminist utopian novel, Herland, and lectured widely on topics of social concern. Her work helped set the foundation of feminism and grass roots political activism at the dawn of the 20th century.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Yellow Wall-Paper (1890)
That Rare Jewel (1890)
The Unexpected (1890)
Circumstances Alter Cases (1890)
The Giant Wistaria (1891)
An Extinct Angel (1891)
The Rocking-Chair (1893)
Deserted (1893)
An Elopement (1893)
Through This (1893)
The Misleading of Pendleton Oaks (1894)
A Day's Berryin' (1894)
Five Girls (1894)
One Way Out (1894)
An Unpatented Process (1895)
An Unnatural Mother (1895)
Three Thanksgivings (1909)
According to Solomon (1909)
The Cottagette (1910)
The Widow's Might (1911)
The Jumping-Off Place (1911)
In Two Houses (1911)
Turned (1911)
Making a Change (1911)
Mrs Elder's Idea (1912)
Their House (1912)
Her Beauty (1913)
Mrs Hines's Money (1913)
Bee Wise (1913)
A Council of War (1913)
Fulfilment (1914)
A Partnership (1914)
If I Were a Man (1914)
Mr Peebles's Heart (1914)
Mrs Merrill's Duties (1915)
Girls and Land (1915)
Dr Clair's Place (1915)
A Surplus Woman (1916)
Joan's Defender (1916)

Appendix A     Impress 'Story Studies'
Appendix B     'Why I Wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper"?'

Editorial Reviews

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.

Booknews

Narrator Beata Pozniak’s captivating accent and likable style are ideal for this seminal feminist short story (1892). An unnamed woman is suffering from postnatal “temporary nervous depression,” according to her husband, a doctor, who believes he knows what’s best for her: strict isolation and bed rest. Pozniak faultlessly delivers journal entries that express the woman’s longing to see her baby and to go outside. She is kept in a room with yellow wallpaper, whose eerie designs eventually appear to come alive. Impressive sound effects—for example, the wallpaper’s movements and sounds, as well as the woman’s breathing—augment Pozniak’s voice as it slides into notes of terror. Those elements and a riveting conclusion demonstrate that audiobooks can be as horrifying as anything on the screen. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2021 - AudioFile