Date of Award
Summer 1996
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
English
First Advisor
DeFalco, Joseph
Second Advisor
Smith, Gail
Third Advisor
Hubbard, Francis
Abstract
Charlotte Perkins Gilman begins the first essay in the first issue of her magazine The Forerunner with these words: "The ancient iconoclast pursued his idol-smashing with an ax. ... The modern iconoclast enters without noise, and dexterously replaces the old image with a new one" (Vol. 1, Nov. 1909). As a voice for Progressivism in the early twentieth century, Forerunner presented Gilman's feminist alternatives to traditional popular opinion. In this magazine published at the apex of her career, Gilman promotes the core. theme of all her iconoclastic writing: equality between the sexes. Although the thematic center of Gilman's work remains unchanged throughout her career, the paths she follows in exploration of that center evolve as her career progresses...