Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
When I Was a Witch
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
6 posts | 2 read | 15 to read
Wonderfully sardonic and slyly humorous! When I Was a Witch is a collection of classic short stories and flash fictions by pioneer feminist, literary entrepreneur and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The fantastic tales, which are reminiscent of Haruki Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes, include: When I Was a Witch, If I Were a Man, The Yellow Wallpaper, Turned, The Cottagette, My Astonishing Dodo, and many others. Each of the stories takes a simple concept of female life, and probes it, what-ifs it, and exposes it until it reaches one of many ultimate conclusions. Gilman's style is witty, subtly ironic and a joy to read. When I Was a Witch is about a woman who was having a bad hair day when she discovers that her wishes can come true and can change her environment and even the society at large. The wishes, though unconventional, still keep with other themes by Gilman around women and identity. In If I Were A Man, Mollie, the protagonist, becomes a man for one day. She immediately notices that she feels more confident as a man. She gains a sense of weight and size and freedom of physical movement that constitute a man's identity and that are different from the meekness and restraint she feels as a woman. She suddenly feels at home in the world, where everything is the right size for her, including the seat back. As she enters the man's world, she experience men differently than she used to do as a woman. Hilarious, perceptive and insightful. Since its publication in New England Magazine in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper has been one of the most analyzed pieces of literature. Literary critics have looked at the tale from many different perspectives including feminist and anti-feminist perspectives, psychological perspectives, and even perspectives looking at The Yellow Wallpaper as a science fiction novella. Whichever perspective one looks at this tale describing the chilling depiction of a woman's mental breakdown one would see it as it truly is; a riveting masterpiece. Turned is a short story about the standing up of one woman for what she ultimately believes to be the right thing. The tale is reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale without the dystopian totalitarian theocratic undertones. Charlotte Gilman was a prominent American sociologist, novelist, writer of short stories, poetry, and non fiction, and a lecturer for social reform. She was a utopian feminist during a time when her accomplishments were exceptional for women, and she served as a role model for future generations of feminists because of her unorthodox concepts and lifestyle. Her best remembered work today is her semi-autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," which she wrote after a severe bout of post-partum depression.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
elizabethlk
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
post image
Pickpick

You can now read my full review of our most recent #LiteReads selection, When I Was a Witch by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (link below). I personally think the story has a lot of problems and some stuff that's hard to read, but at the same time I also have fun with it. Let me know in the comments what you thought of it! New selection tomorrow (chosen for BHM).

https://wp.me/p9KSXu-I6

blurb
elizabethlk
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
post image

Our Lite Reads hiatus has come to an end! Our new selected short story is When I Was A Witch by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (a rare repeat author for us). You can find the link to read our selection post linked below (which has links to read/listen to the story). This feminist fantasy from 1910 has some interesting elements I'm eager to explore with you all. Be sure to leave a comment to share your thoughts on the story!

https://wp.me/p9KSXu-I7

review
Natasha.C.Barnes
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
post image
Pickpick

As I've said before, this has the most ridiculous cover for a collection of Charlotte Gilman stories I can even imagine, but I'm so happy I own it and that I read it. The Yellow Wallpaper has obviously been on my list to read for forever and I was glad I finally got to it--it's worth reading, even knowing the whole concept. My favorite story was probably "If I Were A Man"...not enough has changed in the last century...

batsy I have to read this! Such a shame about the cover. 6y
Natasha.C.Barnes @batsy I know, right? It's hilarious. I'm so glad I finally got around to reading her, though. 6y
94 likes2 stack adds2 comments
quote
Natasha.C.Barnes
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
post image

The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Gilman

BarbaraBB Such an impressive read 6y
Tamra Loved Yellow Wallpaper - haunting. 6y
86 likes5 stack adds2 comments
blurb
Natasha.C.Barnes
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
post image

I'm so grateful to @NovelGirl82 for gifting me this book of Gilman's stories and helping me start this year off right. This kind of thing is such a fascinating mix of relief-giving wish fulfillment and rage-inducing calls to action and it is exactly what I need to be reading right now. #thefutureisfemale

NovelGirl82 I‘m so glad you‘re enjoying it! It looked amazing. I‘m going to have to order a copy once my buying ban is over! 😂😂 6y
77 likes2 stack adds1 comment
blurb
batsy
When I Was a Witch | Charlotte Gilman
post image

"When I Was a Witch", a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman https://biblioklept.org/2017/10/20/read-when-i-was-a-witch-a-short-story-by-char...

I haven't read it yet; saved for later. Witches and Gilman, had to share!

Cathythoughts Great title & another amazing picture 👍👍👍 6y
batsy @Cathythoughts It's fab, isn't it ☺️ I should try to look up the artist 6y
slategreyskies I love her story The Yellow Wallpaper. 💛 6y
58 likes5 stack adds3 comments