Penn State Series in the History of the Book

The Yellow Wallpaper

Narrated by Cynthia Erivo

The Yellow Wallpaper (original title: "The Yellow Wall-paper. A Story") is a 6,000-word short story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's health, both physical and mental. Presented in the first person, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband (John) has rented an old mansion for the summer. The entries display a spiral into psychosis as the writer tried to solve the mystery of the yellow wallpaper.