During her lifetime, Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) was a popular writer, public speaker, and social reformer whose literary interests ranged from short stories, novels, and nonfiction philosophical studies to poetry, newspaper columns, plays, and many other genres. Though she fell into obscurity after her death, there has been a resurgence of interest in Gilmans works among literary scholars.

 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: New Texts, New Contexts represents a new phase of feminist scholarship in recovery, drawing readers attention to Gilmans lesser-known works from fresh perspectives that revise what we thought we knew about the author and her work. Volume contributors consider an array of texts that have not yet enjoyed adequate critical scrutiny, including Gilmans short fiction, drama, and writing for periodicals, as well as her long fiction. Similarly, incorporating careful archival, biographical, and historical research, contributors explore Gilmans life and writings-including her most famous story, "The Yellow Wall-Paper"-through strikingly new critical lenses. Other essays included here assess Gilmans place in a longer historical trajectory and within multiple rhetorical traditions, from the genre of feminist humor to the canon of African American womens literary production.