The Yellow Wall-paper

First published in 1892, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" is written as the secret journal of a woman who, failing to relish the joys of marriage and motherhood, is sentenced to a country rest cure.

Though she longs to write, her husband and doctor forbid it, prescribing instead complete passivity.

In the involuntary confinement of her bedroom, the hero creates a reality of her own beyond the hypnotic pattern of the faded yellow wallpaper __ a pattern that has come to symbolize her own imprisonment.

Narrated with superb psychological and dramatic precision, "The Yellow Wall-Paper" stands out not only for the imaginative authenticity with which it depicts one woman's descent into insanity, but also for the power of its testimony to the importance of freedom and self-empowerment for women. Suggested for course use in: Family studies Feminist thought History of medicine 19th-century U.S. literature Psychology Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860 - 1935) was a feminist writer, lecturer, and activist.

Her many other works include "Herland" and "Women and Economics."