The Yellow Wallpaper: And Selected Stories

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

A harrowing work of both gothic and feminist literature, the Yellow Wallpaper explores themes of gender, identity, women's rights, and mental health. First released in January 1892 in The New England Magazine, The Yellow Wallpaper is an epistolary short story told through a series of secret journal entries. Based on Gilman's own experiences following the prescription of the "rest-cure," the protagonist is brought by her doctor husband to an old colonial house after the birth of their child to rest. Within the oppressive confines of the one-time nursery, she becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper surrounding her and is soon driven to the brink of insanity.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an American author, feminist, social reformer, and advocate for women's rights. Her work is immensely readable and inventive and continues to be a core text in feminist literature. This edition presents the Yellow Wallpaper with a biography of Gilman's life, a discussion of her work, and selected short stories, including If I Were A Man, The Widow's Might, and Three Thanksgivings.

"A great work of literature, the product of a questing, burning intellect" - Maggie O'Farrell

"I loved it. I loved the unnerving, sarcastic tone, the creepy ending, the clarity of its critique of the popular nineteenth century" - The Paris Review

82 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 23, 2024

About the author

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), 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.