Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an American author, feminist, and social reformer best known for her short story 'The Yellow Wallpaper'. She wrote extensively about the role and status of women in society and advocated for women's economic independence and social reform. Her work is considered important in feminist literature and social thought.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Herland
"Herland" is a utopian novel that depicts an isolated society composed entirely of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis. The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict, and domination. The story is told from the perspective of a male sociologist who, along with two other men, stumbles upon the society. They are initially imprisoned, but as they learn about the society, they are gradually integrated. The novel explores themes of gender, motherhood, and how environment influences behavior and societal structure.
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2. The Yellow Wallpaper
The narrative is a first-person account of a woman's descent into madness after being confined to a room with yellow wallpaper by her husband, who prescribes a "rest cure" for her postpartum depression. As she spends her days in forced idleness, she becomes obsessed with the room's ghastly wallpaper. She starts to see patterns and figures within it, particularly a woman trapped behind the paper's chaotic designs. The protagonist's identification with the figure and her growing paranoia culminate in a chilling conclusion, as she succumbs to psychosis, tearing down the wallpaper in a desperate attempt to free the woman she believes is trapped within it. The story is a powerful critique of the 19th-century medical treatment of women and a haunting exploration of the reality of mental illness.
