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From the Illustrator: "The line art in this graphic novel was created in such a way as to mirror a sense of 'the hand,' because the main character in the story is journaling the story. At times, then, the art will begin to fragment as the panels proceed, to match the inner state of the character. The choice of sepia color lends an 'aged' feel, as if you were going back in time to peek at the character's own handwriting and sketches."
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"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a short story that was published in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in "The Forerunner," after Gilman suffered a serious downturn with depression, upon taking a doctor's advice to engage in the "rest cure" and abandon creative pursuits forever.
Now, more than a hundred years later, this image-rich work has been interpreted by artist Sara Barkat -- in a manner that combines both philosophical thought and visual intrigue.
Sometimes understood as feminist literature, sometimes understood as exploring mental illness, and sometimes understood as both at the same time, this story is oddly poetic even when it is chilling and challenging. The tale contains subtexts that touch upon the nature of Imagination, as well as the act of Writing, and the artist has enhanced these subtexts with the inclusion of Victorian flower symbols, such as thistle for independence and lupine for imagination.Watch, too, for the appearance of some of history's most imaginative art, refashioned and in dialog with the story at hand, which gives a sense of timelessness and broader societal import to the tale.
The Yellow Wallpaper Summary -- see tweetspeakpoetry.com/the-yellow-wall-paper-summary/
In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is persuaded by her husband, John, to take the rest cure from an ambiguous nervous breakdown (possibly linked to post-partum depression). The house they go to is old, broken-down, and, our unnamed narrator and main character thinks, quite possibly haunted -- at least if she's being fanciful.
But she's not supposed to be fanciful; that's what John says. Nor is she supposed to visit other people, or to write -- though writing is our narrator's work and what she is most passionate about. Still, she writes in secret, and the journal entries she creates are the story we see unfold, as our narrator, stuck inside most of the time in a room with hideous yellow wallpaper, begins to wonder if there's something more sinister to her situation than it seems at first.
Because, you see, our narrator begins to notice something odd in the wallpaper. Shapes that move and resolve into a woman... a woman behind bars!
Becoming ever more certain that the wallpaper has some insidious influence on her husband and her husband's sister (Jennie), as well as herself, our narrator finally resolves to tear down the paper and lock herself inside her room just as they are about to move out of the abandoned house. Succumbing to what seems like madness, our narrator finally finds a measure of agency, forcing John to listen to her, as he never has throughout the story, no matter how rationally she has tried to state her case. In the end, upon opening the door and seeing her tied to the window and creeping endlessly around the room, John faints, and our narrator continues creeping, triumphant -- though she still has to creep over him every time she goes around.
The Yellow Wallpaper Characters -- for full descriptions see https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/the-yellow-wallpaper-characters/
Unnamed protagonist & narrator (journals the story)
John (protagonist's husband, a physician who thinks he knows how to cure his wife)
Jennie (John's sister)
Jane (ambiguous)
Mary (wet nurse)
baby (the protagonist's)
protagonist's unnamed brother ("My brother is also a physician, and also of high standing.")
Weir Mitchell (a real-life physician and author who popularized the rest cure)
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