Read Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Unnatural Mother” and a lot about Gilman at Library of America. “Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Charlotte was beginning to realize that her social reputation had doomed her prospects for a living. She later reported that Helen Campbell, her fellow editor on The Impress, ‘made some inquiries as to the rather surprising lack of support, either in subscribers or advertisers, and was answered, “Nothing that Mrs. Stetson does can succeed here,” and, “You risk your own reputation in joining her.”’ Charlotte’s editorship of the newsletter lasted twenty weeks before she was forced to relinquish her position. ‘This fiasco was what showed me my standing in that city,” and she left for Chicago to live for several months in Hull House at the invitation of Jane Addams. In the last issue of The Impress, she answered her critics with a short story, ‘The Unnatural Mother[.]'”
Categories: Notes