Reading Gilman

When I was in my first year of undergrad, the prof had us read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. He asked us, "do you think it's a psychological story of a woman going mad, or a ghost story?" and we picked "woman going mad" so he took the side of "ghost story," and proceeded to point out all the things that could be read as a ghost story.

He also taught us that this was based on Gilman's experiences so we weren't totally convinced of its ghostliness at all.

Years later I'd read "The Rocking Chair" and "The Great Wisteria" and now I can totally buy the ghost story angle, because she was a ghost story writer too.

"When I Was A Witch" is still my favourite Gilman story so far, though.

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