“John is a physician, and perhaps – (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind) – perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster.” Thus wrote Charlotte Perkins Gilman in her short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” 

 “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written in 1892, captures the author’s personal experience of the “rest cure,” a treatment for female depression that was popular among notable women of the era, including Edith Wharton and Virginia Woolf. The rest cure required isolation from friends and family, and denied patients access to books, writing materials, and creative outlets in favor of total rest, massage, and a high fat and calorie diet. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is Gilman’s response to this experience, and has become a seminal feminist work on gender relations and mental health. 

Read “The Yellow Wallpaper” online, and join us for a lively talk of this remarkable, and haunting, tale (which has been deemed a horror story by some literary critics). The author is the subject of our upcoming webinar, part of a Sargent House Museum series called Recovering Lost Voices. Sargent House Museum board member and teacher Caroline Teague directs the conversation.  

The event is free, but registration is required. Sign up here.