Wife or Spinster: Stories by Nineteenth-Century Women

by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Charles G. Waugh

Features stories depicting the position of women in nineteenth-century society by authors such as Louisa May Alcott, Kate Chopin, and Edith Wharton

265 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

Reviews

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories by 19th century women chosen for their focus on women's rights. As with any collection like this, I didn't love or even read every story. Some of them were very good though, thought-provoking. A Paying Concern by Gertrude Roscoe was about workers in a textile mill but reminded me of 1984-like dystopic sci fi. And I always love The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, this was my fourth or fifth time reading it. It brilliantly blends psychological gothic with politics (women's place and rights).

[Jeannie Sloan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to see what life was like for women in the 19th century.Thank god we have come a long was since then.
This is not a cheerful book.It shows how limited a women's life was back then and how they were perceived by men and other women.
Good essays.Well thought out.Some sense of the sexual repression of women and how they were seen as only extensions of men and not individuals in their own right.
Definitely worth reading.