Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A BiographyCharlotte Perkins Gilman offers the definitive account of this controversial writer and activist's long and eventful life. Charlotte Anna Perkins Stetson Gilman (1860 1935) launched her career as a lecturer, author, and reformer with the story for which she is best-known today, "The Yellow Wallpaper." She was hailed as the "brains" of the US women's movement, whose focus she sought to broaden from suffrage to economics. Her most influential sociological work criticized the competitive individualism of capitalists and Social Darwinists, and touted altruistic service as the prerequisite to both social progress and human evolution. By 1900, Gilman had become an international celebrity, but had already faced a scandal over her divorce and "abandonment" of her child. As the years passed, her audience shrunk and grew more hostile, and she increasingly positioned herself in opposition to the society that in an earlier, more idealistic period she had seen as the better part of the self. In her final years, she unflinchingly faced breast cancer, her second husband's sudden death, and finally, her own carefully planned suicide she "preferred chloroform to cancer" and cared little for a single life when its usefulness was over. Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents new insights into the life of a remarkable woman whose public solutions often belied her private anxieties. It aims to recapture the drama and complexity of Gilman's life while presenting a comprehensive scholarly portrait. |
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Contents
Introduction | |
Acknowledgments | |
1 Beginnings | |
2 Im Not Domestic and Dont Want to Be | |
3 I Am Not the Combining Sort | |
4 A Life with No Beyond | |
5 Begin New | |
6 The Duty Farthest | |
10 Readjustment | |
11 The Forerunner | |
12 Begin Again | |
13 A Returned Exile | |
14 The Stepping Off Place | |
Postmortem | |
Abbreviations | |
Notes | |
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Common terms and phrases
American attempt August Autobiography Beecher believed called cause Charlotte Charlotte’s child claimed considered continued CPG to KSC CPS to GHG daughter death December described desire early Economics efforts expressed February feel felt final folder force Forerunner friends GECS Gilman Grace happy heart hoped Houghton human Impress individual interest January Journal July June Katharine later lecture letter Library living March marriage married Mary mind months mother move movement nature never November October offered once pain Perkins planned poem progress proved Providence published reform remained returned Review seemed sense September social Stetson story suffrage suggests things thought told took turned University views Walter wanted wife woman women writing wrote York young
Bibliographic information
| Title | Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Biography |
| Author | Cynthia Davis |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Stanford University Press, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0804738890, 9780804738897 |
| Length | 537 pages |
| Subjects | › Biography & Autobiography / General Biography & Autobiography / Literary |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |