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Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 21:25:59 -0600 (CST)
From: Brett Allen Holloway-Reeves
Subject: Re: Yellow Wallpaper Project
To: Daniel Anderson
MIME-Version: 1.0

Dan,

the only thing I know about the rest cure is that Brian Bremen told us that TS Eliot was suffering from a neurasthenic disorder much like the "YP" character has, a woman's disease afflicting many a female, and that he was taking a rest cure during the time he wrote the Wasteland. Pertinent? Maybe not, but it's interesting, yes? You might have know this, but I didn't so . . . .

Also, I'm going to encourage my 316 to check out your stuff; we're reading "YP" on Friday.

later
brett h-r

comment type: Ask a question
place: yellow wallpaper comment.
comment: Hi, once again!
I have "fingered" "The Yellow Wallpaper" on my web page. Is that okay? If not, I'll remove. Each text takes a further step. Your text goes further in links to surrounding docs. I like that approach very much!!
See http://pimacc.pima.edu/~gmcmillan/glowww.html for the h ref to Yellow Wallpaper.
Thanks--please advise if it's okay.
Gloria McMillan

Dan (and you may post this to other interested folks)--

When I taught "The Yellow Wallpaper" in my 309 class (could this be 5 years ago now? ugh) I checked out a "Masterpieces Theater" version of the film from the UGL A-V room. I guess you've already decided not to use that version, or maybe they no longer carry it. I found it somewhat interesting for class discussion because of its ending: in the Gilman story, I like the way the narrator's identity becomes questionable in the end--there's a fluidity between the woman who is being "brought out" of the wallpaper and the first-person narrator. The film complicates that ambiguity by having "John" finally break into the bedroom to find that a completely different woman (played by a different actress) is crawling around the room. That woman shoots over her shoulder, "I've got out at last, in spite of you and Jane. . . " --I'm interested in your take on that line, because the film suggests that "Jane" could be the first person narrator, who has finally freed this woman "in spite of" her own feeble attempts to fit her proscribed role as John's wife. Anyway, that's one way to see it.

In my 316 I never felt like I had time to show the film version, but we still puzzled over the "In spite of you and Jane" line. Some of my students tried to argue that the line is Gilman's error, and she really meant to write "Janey"--the maid who indeed has suppported John's attempts to keep the narrator from writing. But it seems bogus to dismiss this point as a typographical error. I've never been able to find evidence that it is a typo, either. So I've had to ask, "Who is Jane?" To me, this might be the first person narrator's name, which is not mentioned anywhere else in the text. If so, the film version reinforces that reading, but at the same time I'm not happy with their choice to bring in a completely different actress to reinforce their point. I like to think that we've got the first person narrator speaking to John at the end, but what she is really saying is "I've got out at last, in spite of you and myself."

Maybe I've made no sense to you here because you've already worked all of this out. If so, please give me your take on the ending.

Sorry to have sent such a long message, but I have even more I could say here, and I'm going to truncate it a little. The last time I taught the story was in 316, and I had a certain male student (ex-military, older than me, had been married 2 or 3 times already) and this particular student started the discussion with some comments that just ignited my female students. I found out later that this man had come to class without reading the work, and was actually just reading the biographical headnote during my introductory comments on the story (he admitted this to me during office hours) -- but anyway, he said something in class like, "Well, I've been married several times, and I've had the experience of being around each of my wives while they dealt with post-natal depression, and I'm convinced that this is what the narrator of this story was suffering from. To me, this is just a story about how crazy some women can get when their hormones are all messed up." (!)

You can imagine the ruckus that ensued. I was glad that I had some very vocal feminists who pointed out the little matter of the doctor's oppressive attitude toward the narrator, and her own need to carve an identity through writing. What killed me, though, was that the male student (who hadn't actually read the story) stuck to his guns, insisting that women are generally unstable after a pregnancy -- he had experience to back up his claims, etc. etc., and he even implied that those women in the class who had never had a child really couldn't understand the story. Then he appealed to the other men in the class--and brought in as support of his argument--the "indisputable" fact that women go crazy about once a month with PMS. It may sound like a hellish class, but it got everyone so fired up that I realized how really important that story is--it can still get at basic gender conflicts. To me (and to other female students in the class), my male student was --inadvertently-- playing out the role of John. It was flabbergasting, but it produced some great counter-arguments.

comment type: Make a comment
place: yellow wallpaper comment.
comment: Daniel:
This site looks amazing-- I'm especially interested in the yellow Wallpaper but the whole lit survey thing is great, so astounding. I would like to have my students add to the Yellow Wallpaper site, if that would be ok, as a kind of warm-up exercise for learning the html stuff, and to get an idea of what can be achieved (in so exemplary a fashion) with the "site." I'd also like to talk to you some time about how you integrated the various components here as assignments in the class, when they learned certain techniques, etc. Well, I guess that's all for now; continuing good luck with the GREAT work.
-chris

comment type: Other
place: yellow wallpaper comment.
comment: Hi, Dan!
I have re-structured my web page on THE TIME MACHINE to include crits and Wells' own words. Just an update!!
Gloria McMillan
http://pimacc.pima.edu/~gmcmillan/glowww.html

comment type: Make a comment
place: yellow wallpaper comment.
comment: Dan,I just came across your site while traveling the Web and I think you should definitely contact Shelley Fishkin in the American Studies Department. Shelley and I used to edit the "Charlotte Perkins Gilman Newsletter" together, now Shelley is doing it alone. I'm sure she'd love to hear about this.Frank

Dear Daniel--

Wow! I'm really excited about your Gilman materials on the internet, and look forward to checking them out as soon as I've got a few minutes to spare (I'm swamped at the moment with other things, and can't for at least a few days.) But I've spoken to Denise Knight, who will be taking over as Editor of the Newsletter (I'll remain Executive Director of the Gilman society, but I don't have time to do the newsletter any more). Denise would love to be in touch with you on e-mail, figure out how to write up what you're doing in the newsletter, and possibly put the newsletter on-line. Thanks for bringing Gilman into the internet! I hope we'll have a chance to meet some time. Why don't you stop by my office some time? I have offices hourse Tuesday and Thursday, l2:30 -2 in Garrison 304. Thanks for getting in touch. I've forwarded your message to Denise. Here's how you can reach her:

KNIGHTD@snycorva.cortland.edu

Thanks! shelley