Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Optimist Reformer PDF
Preview Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Optimist Reformer
Charlotte Perkins Gilman Charlotte Perkins Gilman o p t i m i s t r e f o r m e r Edited by Jill Rudd & Val Gough UniversityofIowaPress IowaCity UniversityofIowaPress,IowaCity52242 (cid:1) Copyright 1999bytheUniversityofIowaPress Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica (cid:1) http://www.uiowa.edu/ uipress Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorusedinanyform orbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopyingand recording,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.Allreasonable stepshavebeentakentocontactcopyrightholdersofmaterialusedinthis book.Thepublisherwouldbepleasedtomakesuitablearrangements withanywhomithasnotbeenpossibletoreach. Printedonacid-freepaper LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData CharlottePerkinsGilman:optimistreformer/editedbyJill RuddandValGough. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex. isbn x isbn 0-87745-695- , 0-87745-696-8(paper) 1. Gilman,CharlottePerkins,1860–1935—Politicalandsocial views. 2. Feminismandliterature—UnitedStates—History—19th century. 3. Womenandliterature—UnitedStates—History—19th century. 4. Socialproblemsinliterature. 5. Optimismin literature. I. Rudd,Jill. II. Gough,Val. ps g z 1744. 57 62 1999 (cid:2) 818.409—dc21 99-29216 c 99 00 01 02 03 5 4 3 2 1 p 99 00 01 02 03 5 4 3 2 1 contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction ix JillRudd&ValGough gilman and feminism CharlottePerkinsGilmanandthe RightsofWomen:HerLegacyforthe1990s 3 AnnJ.Lane TheIntellectualismofCharlottePerkinsGilman: EvolutionaryPerspectivesonRace,Ethnicity,andClass 16 LisaGanobcsik-Williams women, work, and the home ‘‘WhataComfortaWomanDoctorIs!’’ MedicalWomenintheLifeandWritingof CharlottePerkinsGilman 45 FrederickWegener CharlottePerkinsGilman’sThreeWomen: Work,Marriage,andtheOld(er)Woman 74 KatharineCockin HomeIsWheretheHeartIs—OrIsIt? ThreeWomenandCharlottePerkinsGilman’s TheoryoftheHome 93 MarieT.Farr KitchenlessHousesandHomes:CharlottePerkinsGilman andtheReformofArchitecturalSpace 111 YvonneGaudelius CharlottePerkinsGilmanandEducationalReform 127 DeborahM.DeSimone motherhood and reproduction Consumption,Production,andReproduction intheWorkofCharlottePerkinsGilman 151 NaomiB.Zauderer ReconfiguringVice:CharlottePerkinsGilman, Prostitution,andFrontierSexualContracts 173 JudithA.Allen ‘‘Fecundate!Discriminate!’’CharlottePerkinsGilman andtheTheologizingofMaternity 200 SandraM.Gilbert&SusanGubar public and private faces HairToday,ShornTomorrow?HairSymbolism, Gender,andtheAgencyofSelf 219 KarenStevenson ‘‘WrittentoDriveNailsWith’’:RecallingtheEarly PoetryofCharlottePerkinsGilman 243 CatherineJ.Golden ‘‘ButOMyHeart’’:ThePrivatePoetryof CharlottePerkinsGilman 267 DeniseD.Knight NotesonContributors 285 Bibliography 289 Index 307 acknowledgments TheeditorswouldliketothanktheBritishAcademyfortheir generoussupportoftheconference‘‘CharlottePerkinsGilman: OptimistReformer,’’LiverpoolUniversity,June1995,which providedthebasisforthisvolume,andtoacknowledgeOpus Technologyfortheirsponsorshipofthatevent.Wearealso gratefultoProfessorMiriamAllotandtheEnglishDepartment oftheUniversityofLiverpoolfortheirhelpandsupport.Special thanksarealsoduetoLisaLeslieforhersterlingworkin helpingpreparethemanuscriptforpublication.Allremaining errorsaretheresponsibilityoftheeditors,asisthedecisionto use‘‘Wallpaper’’ratherthan‘‘Wall-paper’’throughout. jill rudd & val gough Introduction In the final entry of her 1890 diary Charlotte Perkins Gilman records the year as one of ‘‘great growth and gain. My whole lit- erary reputation dates within it–mainly from ‘Similar Cases.’ Also the dawn of my work as lecturer.’’1 Although she had re- ceiveda sporadicincomefromotherpursuits,suchasteachingor painting,fromthisdateGilmanmadehermodestlivingfromher abilities to lecture in a way which not only entertained and edu- catedheraudiencesbutalsochallengedthem.Knowntohercon- temporaries as a fervent advocate of reform on social, economic, and religious fronts, and designated an ‘‘optimist reformer’’ by WilliamDeanHowells(Living,182),Gilmanproducedavastar- rayofwritingonawidevarietyoftopicsacrossarangeofgenres: the poem ‘‘Similar Cases’’ to which she refers in her diary epito- mizes the reputation she held during her lifetime, being a sharp satireofsocialexpectationsdeliveredinswift-movingverse.2Now, in a late-twentieth-century resurgence, she is remembered and celebratedmoreasawriterofnovelsandshortstories,particularly Herland and ‘‘The Yellow Wallpaper,’’ than as the author of the socialandpoliticalessayswhichoriginallymadehername. This trend is reflected in the many readers and collections of critical essays which highlight Gilman’s novels and short stories and often make only passing reference to the rest of her work.3 However, the range is gradually widening as current articles are taking increasing account of her poetry, her lectures, and her es- says,aswellasherlettersanddiaries.Therecentvolumeofcriti- calessayseditedbyJoanneB.Karpinski(CriticalEssaysonChar- lottePerkinsGilman)isanindicationofthisprocess,asitcontains contributionsonGilman’sviewsonreligion,herrelationtofemi- nism, and her poetry as well as a chapter dealing with Walter
The list of books you might like
