The Yellow Wallpaper

Summary

“There are things in that paper that nobody knows but me, or ever will.”

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s haunting chronicle of crippling depression, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” is a cornerstone of weird fiction. First published in 1892, it has now been given an unsettling yet empathetic treatment courtesy of Robert Hunter (original score) and Linda Jones (narration) who skillfully brings the listener into the tale’s interiority and demonstrates its timelessness.

Weaving sound into patterns that gradually reveal themselves like those lurking in the titular wall covering, Hunter’s score pairs with Jones’s graceful delivery to masterfully guide the listener through the nameless narrator’s insular world. The listener is invited to examine the wallpaper, first with revulsion, then with inquisitiveness, and finally concern until the time arrives to find out what lurks within—or behind—the hideous wallpaper. The listener experiences the oppressive weight of an ever-shrinking world with its attendant lack of stimuli, and obsessiveness offering the only escape.