"Too Terribly Good to Be Printed": Charlotte Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"
Author(s): Conrad Shumaker
Source: American Literature, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Dec., 1985), pp. 588-599
Published by: Duke University Press
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Goodto Be Printed":
"Too Terribly
Charlotte
Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
CONRAD
SHUMAKER
University
ofCentralArkansas
I890
William Dean Howells sent a copy of "The Yellow
Wallpaper"to Horace Scudder,editorof the AtlanticMonthly.
Scuddergave his reasonfornotpublishingthestoryin a shortletter
to its author,CharlottePerkinsStetson(laterto become Charlotte
PerkinsGilman): "Dear Madam, Mr. Howells has handedme this
story.I could not forgivemyselfifI made othersas miserableas I
have made myself!"'Gilmanpersevered,however,and eventually
the story,whichdepictsthe mentalcollapse of a womanundergoing a "rest cure" at the hands of her physicianhusband, was
printedin the New EnglandMagazine and then laterin Howells'
I
own collection, Great Modern American Stories, where he intro-
good to
duces it as "terribleand too whollydire," and "too terribly
be printed."2Despite (orperhapsbecause of) suchpraise,thestory
was virtually
yearsuntilElaine Hedges called
ignoredforoverfifty
attentionto itsvirtues,praisingitas "a smallliterary
masterpiece."3
Today theworkis highlyspokenof by thosewho have read it, but
it is notwidelyknownand has been slow to appearin anthologies
of Americanliterature.
Some of the best criticismattemptsto explain thisneglectas a
case of misinterpretation
by audiencesused to "traditional"literature. Annette Kolodny, for example, points out that though
nineteenth-century
readers had learned to "follow the fictive
processes of aberrantperception and mental breakdown" by
readingPoe's tales,theywere notpreparedto understanda tale of
' Quoted in CharlottePerkins Gilman, The Living of CharlottePerkinsGilman: An
rpt.New York: Arno,1972), p. 19.
Autobiography
(I935;
(New York:Boni and Liveright,1920),
Stories:AnAnthology
2 TheGreatModernAmerican
p. vii.
3Afterword, TheYellowWallpaper(Old Westbury,N. Y.: FeministPress, 1973) p. 37.
Volume 57, Number 4, December I985. CopyrightC) I985
Literature,
American
Press.CCC 0002-983
Duke University
I/85/$I.50.
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bv the
Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
589
mentaldegenerationin a middle-classmotherand wife. It took
feminismto place the storyin a "nondominant
twentieth-century
or subcultural"traditionwhich those steeped in the dominant
JeanF. Kennardsuggeststhatthe
tradition
could notunderstand.4
convenrecentappearanceoffeministnovelshas changedliterary
tionsand led us to findin the storyan explorationofwomen'srole
insteadof the tale of horroror depictionof mentalbreakdownits
originalaudience found.5Both argumentsare persuasive,and the
feminist
readingsof the storythataccompanythemare instructive.
Withitsimagesofbarredwindowsand sinisterbedsteads,creeping
womenand domineeringmen,thestorydoes indeedraisetheissue
of sex rolesin an effectiveway,and thusanticipateslaterfeminist
literature.
Ultimately,however,both approachestend to make the story
seem more isolated fromthe concernsof the nineteenth-century
"dominanttradition"thanit reallyis, and since theyfocusmostof
our attentionon the story'spolemicalaspect, theyinvitea further
explorationof Gilman's artistry-theway in whichshe molds her
To
workof literature.
effective
reformer
concernsintoa strikingly
be sure,the polemicsare important.Gilman,an avowed feminist
and a relativeof HarrietBeecher Stowe, told Howells that she
didn'tconsiderthe workto be "literature"at all, thateverything
she wrotewas fora purpose,in thiscase thatof pointingout the
dangersof a particularmedical treatment.Unlike Gilman'sother
purposefulfictions,however,"The Yellow Wallpaper"transcends
its author's immediate intent, and my experience teaching it
impressesbothmaleand femalestudents,
suggeststhatitfavorably
even beforetheylearnof its feministcontextor of the patriarchal
biases of nineteenth-century
medicine. I thinkthe storyhas this
effectfortwo reasons.First,the questionof women's role in the
boundup withthe moregeneral
nineteenthcenturyis inextricably
questionof how one perceivesthe world.Womanis oftenseen as
an imaginativeor "poetic" view of thingsthatconrepresenting
flictswith (or sometimes complements)the American male's
of LiteraryTexts," New
4"A Map forRereading:Or, Gender and the Interpretation
LiteraryHistory,II (I980), 455-56.
5"Convention Coverage or How to Read Your Own Life," New LiteraryHistory,13
(I98I),
73-74.
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590
AmericanLiterature
"commonsense" approachto reality.Through the charactersof
the "rational"doctorand the "imaginative"wife,Gilmanexplores
a question thatwas-and in manyways still is-central both to
and to theplace ofwomeninAmericanculture:
Americanliterature
What happens to the imaginationwhen it's definedas feminine
(and thusweak) and has to facea societythatvalues theusefuland
the practicaland rejectsanythingelse as nonsense?Second, this
conflictand the relatedfeministmessage botharise naturallyand
effectively
out of the action of the storybecause of the author's
skillfulhandlingof the narrativevoice.
One of the most strikingpassages in Gilman's autobiography
describesher developmentand abandonmentof a dreamworld,a
fantasyland to which she could escape fromthe ratherharsh
realitiesof her earlylife. When she was thirteen,a friendof her
motherwarned thatsuch escape could be dangerous,and Charlotte,a good New Englandgirlwho consideredabsoluteobedience
dreams."6
a duty,"shut the door" on her "dear, bright,glittering
of "The Yellow Wallpaper" has a similarproblem:
The narrator
fromthe beginningof the storyshe displaysa vivid imagination.
She wantsto imaginethatthe house theyhave rentedis haunted,
and as she looksat thewallpaper,she is remindedofherchildhood
and
fanciesabout rooms,her abilityto "get more entertainment
than most children
terrorout of blank walls and plain furniture
her
could findin a toystore."7Her husbandhas to keep reminding
thatshe "mustnotgivewayto fancyin the least" as she comments
she has
on hernew surroundings.
Alongwithhervividimagination
the mindand eye ofan artist.She beginsto studythewallpaperin
an attemptto make sense ofitsartisticdesign,and she objectsto it
foraestheticreasons: it is "one of those sprawling,flamboyant
everyartisticsin" (p. I 3). Whenherabilityto
patternscommitting
expressher artisticimpulsesis limitedby her husband'sprescription of complete rest,her mind turnsto the wallpaper,and she
beginsto findin its tangledpatternthe emotionsand experiences
she is forbiddento record.By tryingto ignoreand repressher
imagination,in short, John eventually brings about the very
circumstance
he wantsto prevent.
Gilman,Living,p. 24.
The Yellow Wallpaper(Old Westbury,N. Y.: Feminist Press,
numbersin the textreferto thisedition.
6
7
I973),
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p. 17. Page
Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
59I
Though he is clearlya domineeringhusbandwho wantsto have
absolute controlover his wife, Johnalso has other reasons for
forbiddingher to write or paint. As Gilman points out in her
autobiography,
the "restcure" was designedfor"the businessman
exhaustedfromtoo muchwork,and the societywomanexhausted
fromtoo muchplay."8The treatment
is intended,in otherwords,
to deal withphysicalsymptomsof overworkand fatigue,and so is
unsuitedto the narrator's
morecomplexcase. But as a doctorand
an empiricistwho "scoffsopenlyat thingsnot to be feltand seen
and put down in figures,"Johnwantsto deal onlywithphysical
causes and effects:if his wife's symptomsare nervousnessand
weightloss, the treatmentmust be undisturbedtranquility
and
good nutrition.
The veryidea thather "work" mightbe beneficial
to herdisturbshim;indeed, he is bothfearful
and contemptuous
of
her imaginativeand artisticpowers, largelybecause he fails to
understandthemor the view of the worldtheylead her to.
Two conversationsin particulardemonstratehis way of dealing
withherimaginationand his fearof it. The firstoccurswhen the
narrator
asks himto changethewallpaper.He repliesthatto do so
would be dangerous,for"nothingwas worsefora nervouspatient
than to give way to such fancies." At this point,her "fancy"is
simplyan objectionto thepaper'sugliness,a pointshe makesclear
when she suggeststhattheymove to the "prettyrooms" downstairs.Johnrepliesby callingher a "littlegoose" and saying"he
wouldgo downto thecellarifshe wishedand have itwhitewashed
intothebargain"(p. I 5). Besides showinghisobviouslypatriarchal
stance,his replyis designedto make heraestheticobjectionsseem
nonsenseby fasteningon concretedetails-color and elevationand ignoringthe real basis of her request. If she wants to go
downstairsaway fromyellowwalls, he will take her to the cellar
and have it whitewashed.The effectis preciselywhathe intends:
he makes her see her objectionto the paper's uglinessas "just a
whim." The second conversationoccurs afterthe narratorhas
begunto see a womanbehindthe surfacepatternofthewallpaper.
When Johncatches her gettingout of bed to examine the paper
moreclosely,she decides to ask himto take heraway.He refuses,
referring
againto concretedetails:"You are gainingfleshand color,
8 Gilman,Living,p. 95.
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592
AmericanLiterature
yourappetiteis better,I feel reallymuchbetteraboutyou." When
she impliesthather physicalconditionisn't the real problem,he
cuts heroffin midsentence:"I beg ofyou, formysake and forour
child's sake, as well as foryourown, thatyou will neverforone
instantlet thatidea enteryourmind!There is nothingso dangerous, so fascinating,to a temperamentlike yours.It is a false and
foolishfancy"(p. 24). For John,mentalillness is the inevitable
result of using one's imagination,the creationof an attractive
"fancy"whichthe mind thenfailsto distinguishfromreality.He
fears that because of her imaginative"temperament"she will
createthe fictionthatshe is mad and come to accept it despite the
evidence-color, weight,appetite-that she is well. Imagination
and art are subversivebecause they threatento underminehis
universe.
materialistic
John
Ironically,despite his abhorrenceoffaithand superstition,
failsbecause of his own dogmaticfaithin materialismand empiricism,a faiththatwill notallow himeven to considerthe possibility
thathis wife'simaginationcould be a positiveforce.In a wayJohn
each manchooses
is likeAylmerin Hawthorne's"The Birthmark":
to interpreta characteristic
of his wife as a defectbecause of his
own failure of imagination,and each attemptsto "cure" her
throughpurelyphysicalmeans,onlyto findhe has destroyedherin
the process. He also resembles the implied villain in many of
Emerson'sand Thoreau's lecturesand essays,the man of convenwisdom
tionwho is so takenwith"commonsense" and traditional
that he is blind to truth.Indeed, the narrator'slament that she
mightgetwell fasterifJohnwerenota doctorand herassertionthat
he can't understandher "because he is so wise" remindone of
Thoreau's question in the firstchapterof Walden:"How can he
rememberhis ignorance-whichhis growthrequires-who has so
often to use his knowledge?" John's role as a doctor and an
Americanmale requiresthathe use his "knowledge"continuously
and doggedly,and he would abhorthe appearanceof imagination
in his own mindeven morevehementlythanin his wife's.
The relationshipbetween them also offersan insightinto how
and why this fear of the imaginationhas been institutionalized
throughassigned gender roles. By defininghis wife's artistic
impulseas a potentiallydangerouspartof herfeminine"tempera-
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Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
593
ment," John can controlboth his wife and a facet of human
experiencewhich threatenshis comfortably
materialistic
view of
when the thing
the world.Fear can masqueradeas calm authority
the story
fearedis embodied in the "weakersex." Quite fittingly,
suggeststhatAmericais fullof Johns:the narrator's
brotheris a
doctor,and S. Weir Mitchell-"like Johnand my brotheronly
moreso!"-looms on the horizonif she doesn't recover.
As her comments suggest, the narratorunderstandsJohn's
problemyetis unable to call it his problem,and in manywaysit is
thiscombinationof insightand naivete,of resistanceand resignation,thatmakes her such a memorablecharacterand gives such
powerto hernarrative.The storyis in the formof a journalwhich
thewriterknowsno one willread-she saysshe wouldnotcriticize
Johnto "a livingsoul, ofcourse,butthisis dead paper"-yet at the
same timeheroccasionaluse of "you," herquestions("Whatis one
to do?" she asks three times in the firsttwo pages), and her
confidentialtone all suggest that she is attemptingto reach or
createthe listenershe cannototherwisefind.Her remarksreveal
thather relationship
withher husbandis filledwithdeceptionon
herpart,not so much because she wantsto hide thingsfromhim
but because it is impossibleto tell him thingshe does notwantto
acknowledge. She reveals to the "dead paper" that she must
pretendto sleep and have an appetitebecause thatis whatJohn
and if she tells
assumes will happen as a resultof his treatment,
himthatshe isn'tsleepingor eatinghe will simplycontradict
her.
Thus the journalprovidesan opportunity
not only to confessher
deceitand explainitsnecessitybut also to say the thingsshe really
wantsto say to Johnand would say if his insistenceon "truthfulness," i.e., sayingwhat he wantsto hear, didn't preventher. As
both her greatestdeception and her attemptto be honest, the
inherjournalembodies in its veryformthe absurdcontradictions
ent in her role as wife.
At the same time, however,she cannot quite stop deceiving
herselfabout herhusband'streatment
of her,and herdescriptions
create a powerfuldramaticironyas the reader graduallyputs
togetherdetails the meaningof which she doesn't quite understand. She says, forinstance,that thereis "somethingstrange"
about the house theyhave rented,but her descriptionrevealsbit
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AmericanLiterature
by bit a room that has apparentlybeen used to confineviolent
mentalcases, withbars on the windows,a gate at the top of the
stairs,steel ringson thewalls,a nailed-downbedstead,and a floor
thathas been scratchedand gouged. When she triesto explainher
feelingsaboutthehouse toJohnearlyin thestory,herreportofthe
conversation
revealshertendencyto assumethathe is alwaysright
despite herown reservations:
strange
aboutthehouse-I can feelit.
... thereis something
evening,buthe saidwhatI felt
I evensaidso toJohnone moonlight
wasa draught,
and shutthewindow.
I'm sureI neverusedto
I getunreasonably
angry
withJohnsometimes.
be so sensitive.
I thinkitis due to thisnervous
condition.
(p. i i)
As usual, Johnrefusesto consideranythingbut physicaldetails,
but thenarrator's
reactionis particularly
revealinghere. Her anger,
perfectlyunderstandableto us, must be characterized,even privately,.as "unreasonable," a sign of her condition.Whatever
doubtsshe mayhave aboutJohn'smethods,he representsreason,
thatmustbe at fault.Commentssuch
and it is herown sensitivity
as these reveal more powerfully
than any directstatementcould
the way she is trappedby the conceptionof herselfwhichshe has
acceptedfromJohnand thesocietywhosevalues he represents.As
Paula A. Treichlerhas pointed out, John'sdiagnosisis a "senclaimsare
tence," a "set of linguisticsignswhose representational
authorizedby society," and thus it can "controlwomen's fate,
can object to
whetheror not thoseclaimsare valid." The narrator
the termsof the sentence,but she cannotquestionits authority,
even in herown privatediscourse.9
To a greatextent,the narrator's
view of her husbandis colored
by the belief thathe reallydoes love her, a belief thatprovides
some of the moststrikingand complexironiesin the story.When
she says,"it is hardto talkto Johnabout mycase because he is so
wise, and because he loves me so," it is temptingto takethewhole
sentenceas an example of her naivete.Obviouslyhe is notwise,
and his actionsare not what we would call loving.Nevertheless,
IfJohnwerenotso
thesentenceis in itswaypowerfully
insightful.
wise-so sureof his own empiricalknowledgeand his expertiseas
9 "Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in 'The Yellow Wallpaper,'" Tulsa
Studiesin Women'sLiterature,
3 (I984), 74.
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Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
595
a doctor-and so loving-so determinedto make herbetterin the
onlywayhe knows-then he mightbe able to set aside his fearof
herimaginationand listento her. The passage suggestsstrikingly
thewaybothcharacters
are doomedto actout theirrespectiveparts
of loving husband and obedient wife rightto the inevitably
disastrousend.
Gilman's depictionof the narrator'sdecline into madness has
been praisedforthe accuracywithwhichitcapturesthe symptoms
of mentalbreakdownand forits use of symbolism.10Whathasn't
been pointedout is the masterlyuse of associations,foreshadowing,and even humor.Once the narrator
startsattempting
to read
the patternof the wallpaper,the readermust become a kind of
psychologicaldetective in order to follow and appreciate the
narrative.In a sense, he too is viewinga tangledpatternwitha
of
womanbehindit, and he mustlearnto revisehis interpretation
the patternas he goes along if he is to make sense of it. For one
thing,the narrator
tells us fromtimeto timeabout new detailsin
theroom.She noticesa "smooch" on thewall "low down,nearthe
mopboard," and later we learn that the bedstead is "fairly
gnawed." It is onlyafterwards
thatwe findout thatshe is herself
thesourceofthesenew marksas she bitesthe bedsteadand crawls
aroundthe room,shoulderto the wallpaper.If the readerhas not
caughton already,thesedetailsshowclearlythatthenarrator
is not
alwaysawareofherown actionsor in controlofherthoughtsand so
is notalwaysreliablein reporting
them.They also foreshadowher
finalseparationfromher wifelyself, her belief that she is the
woman who has escaped frombehind the barredpatternof the
wallpaper.
But the detailsalso inviteus to rereadearlierpassages,to see if
the voice whichwe have takento be a fairlyreliablethoughnaive
reporter
has notbeen givingus unsuspectedhintsofanotherreality
all along. If we do backtrackwe findforeshadowing
everywhere,
notonlyin thewaythe narrator
readsthepatternon thewall but in
the patternof her own narrative,the way in whichone thought
leads to another.One striking
example occurswhen she describes
10 See Beate Sch6pp-Schilling," 'The Yellow Wallpaper': A Rediscovered'Realistic'
Story,"American
LiteraryRealism,8 (I975), 284-86; Loralee MacPike, "Environmentas
Psychopathological
Symbolismin 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" AmericanLiteraryRealism,8
(I97 5), 286-88.
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AmericanLiterature
596
John's sister,Jennie, who is "a dear girland so carefulof me," and
who thereforemust not find out about the journal.
She is a perfectand enthusiastichousekeeper,and hopes forno better
profession.I verilybelieve she thinksit is the writingwhichmade me
sick!
But I can writewhen she is out, and see hera longwayofffromthese
windows.
There is one thatcommandsthe road,a lovelyshaded windingroad,
and one thatjust looks offover the country.A lovelycountrytoo, fullof
greatelms and velvet meadows.
This wallpaper has a kind of sub-patternin a differentshade, a
particularly
irritating
one, foryou can onlysee it in certainlights,and not
clearlythen.
But in theplaceswhereitisn'tfadedand wherethesun is just so-I can
see a strange,provoking,
formlesssortoffigure,thatseems to skulkabout
behindthatsillyand conspicuousfrontdesign.
There's sisteron the stairs!(pp. I7-I8)
The "perfectand enthusiastichousekeeper" is, of course, the ideal
sister for John, whose view of the imagination she shares.
Thoughts of Jennie lead to the narrator'sassertion that she can
"see her a long way offfromthese windows," foreshadowinglater
passages in which the narratorwill see a creeping woman, and then
eventually many creeping women fromthe same windows, and the
association suggests a connection between the "enthusiastic housekeeper" and those imaginarywomen. The thoughtof the windows
leads to a descriptionof the open countryand suggests the freedom
that the narratorlacks in her barred room. This, in turn,leads her
back to the wallpaper, and now she mentions forthe firsttime the
"sub-pattern," a pattern which will eventually become a woman
creeping behind bars, a projection of her feelings about herselfas
she looks through the actual bars of the window. The train of
associations ends when John's sisterreturns,but this time she's just
"sister," as if now she's the narrator'ssister as well, suggesting a
subconscious recognition that they both share the same role,
despite Jennie's apparent freedom and contentment. Taken in
context, this passage prepares us to see the connection between
the pattern of the wallpaper, the actual bars on the narrator's
windows, and the "silly and conspicuous" surface pattern of the
wifelyrole behind which both women lurk.
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Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
597
We can see just how Gilman develops the narrator'smental
collapse ifwe comparethe passage quoted above to a laterone in
whichthe narrator
once again discussesthe "sub-pattern,"which
by now has become a woman who manages to escape in the
daytime.
I thinkthatwomangetsoutin thedaytime!
AndI'll tellyouwhy-privatelv-I'veseen her!
I can see heroutofeveryone ofmywindows!
and most
It is thesamewoman,I know,forshe is alwayscreeping,
womendo notcreepbydaylight.
I see heron thatlongroadunderthetrees,creeping
along,andwhena
vines.
carriage
comesshe hidesundertheblackberry
to be caught
I don'tblameher a bit. It mustbe veryhumiliating
creeping
bydaylight!
I alwayslockthedoorwhenI creepby daylight!
(pp. 30-3I)
Here again the view outside the window suggests a kind of
freedom,but now it is onlya freedomto creepoutsidethe pattern,
a freedomthathumiliatesand mustbe hidden. The darkhumor
thatpunctuatesthe last partof the storyappearsin the narrator's
remarkthatshe can recognizethe womanbecause "most women
do not creep by daylight,"and the sense that the journal is an
attemptto reacha listenerbecomes clearthroughheremphasison
and
between the narrator
"privately."Finally, the identification
the woman is taken a step furtherand becomes more nearly
revealsthatshe too creeps, but only
consciouswhen the narrator
behinda lockeddoor. If we read the twopassagesin sequence, we
Gilmanuses hercentralimages-the
can see just how masterfully
window, the barred patternof the paper, and the woman-to
create a patternof associationswhich reveals the source of the
herselfto remainessentialnarrator's
maladyyetallowsthenarrator
ly unable to verbalize her problem.At some level, we see, she
understandswhat has renderedher so thoroughly
powerlessand
confused,yetshe is so completelytrappedin herrolethatshe can
in a way thathides it from
expressthatknowledgeonlyindirectly
herconsciousmind.
In the terriblycomic ending, she has destroyedboth the
wallpaperand herown identity:nowshe is thewomanfrombehind
thebarredpattern,and noteven Jane-the wifeshe once was-can
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AmericanLiterature
put herback. Still unable to expressherfeelingsdirectly,she acts
creeping
out both her triumphand her humiliationsymbolically,
aroundthe roomwithhershoulderin the "smooch," passingover
herfaintinghusbandon everylap. Loralee MacPike suggeststhat
but thatis trueonly
has finallygained her freedom,1"
the narrator
in a verylimitedsense. She is stillcreeping,stillinside the room
with a rope around her waist. She has destroyedonly the front
pattern,the "silly and conspicuous" design thatcovers the real
wife, the creepingone hidden behind the facade. As Treichler
suggests,"her triumphis to have sharpenedand articulatedthe
but she is freeonlyfromtheneed
natureofwomen'scondition,"'12
to deceive herselfand othersabout the truenatureofherrole. In a
sense, she has discovered,bit by bit, and finallyrevealedto John,
to create-the womanwithoutillusionsor
thewifehe is attempting
who spends all her timecreeping.
imagination
The story,then,is a complexworkof artas well as an effective
view of the sexes and the
indictmentof the nineteenth-century
materialismthat underliesthat view. It is hard to believe that
readersfamiliarwith the materialisticdespots created by such
writersas Hawthorne,Dickens, and Browningcould failto see the
implications.Indeed, thoughHowells' commentthat the story
makeshim"shiver"has been offeredas evidencethathe saw itas a
more or less conventionalhorrorstory,I would assert that he
understoodquite clearly the source of the story'seffect.He
originallywrote to Gilman to congratulateher on her poem
"Women of Today," a scathingindictmentof women who fear
changingsexual roles and fail to realize thattheirview of themselves as mothers,wives,and housekeepersis a self-deception.In
fact,he praisesthatpoem in termsthatanticipatehis praiseof the
story,callingit "dreadfullytrue."13Perhapsthestorywas unpopularbecause itwas, at leaston some level, understoodall tooclearly,
at traditional
waysof
because it strucktoo deeply and effectively
seeingtheworldand woman'splace in it. That, in anycase, seems
to be preciselywhatHowells impliesin his commentthatit is "too
terribly
good to be printed."
11MacPike, p. 288.
12
Treichler,P. 74.
13 Quoted in Gilman,Living,p. 13.
I
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599
Gilman's "The YellowWallpaper"
and art
The clearestevidencethatJohn'sviewoftheimagination
fromthe
was all but sacredin Gilman'sAmericacomes, ironically,
author'sown pen. When she repliedto Howells' requestto reprint
the storyby sayingthatshe did notwrite"literature,"she was, of
course,denyingthatshe was a mere imaginativeartist,defending
herselffromthe charge that Hawthorne imagines his Puritan
ancestorswould lay at his doorstep: "A writerof story-books!God, or being serviceableto mankindin
whatmode of glorifying
his day and generation-maythatbe? Why,the degeneratefellow
One wonderswhatthislater
mightas well have been a fiddler!"14
femalescionofgood New Englandstockmighthave done had she
been able to set aside such objections.In anycase, one hopes that
and art,at least,willbe restoredto the
thisone workofimagination
place that Howells so astutelyassigned it, alongside storiesby
contemporariessuch as Mark Twain, Henry James,and Edith
Wharton.
14
TheScarletLetter(Columbus: Ohio State Univ. Press, I962),
p. IO.
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