The Yellow Wallpaper

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Beata Pozniak (Read by)

Overview

A groundbreaking feminist masterpiece and one of the most exquisite horror stories in American literature.

Diagnosed by her physician husband with a “temporary nervous depression—a slight hysterical tendency” after the birth of her child, a woman is urged to rest for the summer in an old colonial mansion. Forbidden from doing work of any kind, she spends her days in the house’s former nursery, with its barred windows, scratched floor, and peeling yellow wallpaper.

In a private journal, the woman records her growing obsession with the “horrid” wallpaper. Its strange pattern mutates in the moonlight, revealing what appears to be a human figure in the design. With nothing else to occupy her mind, the woman resolves to unlock the mystery of the wallpaper. Her quest, however, leads not to the truth, but into the darkest depths of madness.

With masterly use of unreliable storytelling and a scathing indictment of patriarchal medical practices, The Yellow Wallpaper is a true American classic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798200816378
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	11/23/2021
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(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

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

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

10/15/2017
Told in secret diary entries written by an unnamed woman suffering postpartum depression, this short story chronicles the treatment of women and the social conditions in the late 19th century. As a reflection of the times, the protagonist's physician husband believes that only complete rest will cure his wife. The woman has little activity, no contact with her new baby, and virtually no social interaction, and her symptoms only increase over time as she broods on the hideous wallpaper in the bedroom to which she is confined. She begins to see women trapped behind the interlocking pattern and slips into psychosis. Based on Gilman's own experience of the "rest cure," this story helped spur mental health reform for women. Long revered in feminist literature, Gilman's classic epistolary story is enhanced by Erin Yuen's narration. She uses a smooth, genteel voice to illuminate the protagonist. VERDICT For those interested in early feminist literature, pair this recording with Kim Basinger's interpretation of Kate Chopin's The Awakening.—Judy Murray, Monroe Cty. Lib. Syst., Temperance, MI

Library Journal - Audio