길먼의 일기에 나타난 사적/공적 서사: 일과 자립 추구 및 병증 대처를 중심으로

Abstract

Charlotte Perkins Gilman started writing a diary when she was 15 in 1875, and continued the practice for about 28 years with only sporadic breaks in between until she intentionally stopped at the age of 43 in 1903. Given that her overall writing mainly focused on public issues involving the status of women in her day, Gilman’s diary is worth noting as an important document that reveals more personal aspects about her. Considering recent discussions on diary writing, however, a diary is not just a private record of daily events, but often serves as a medium for dealing with public issues of the day. In this vein, this paper examines Gilman’s diary as a private/public narrative by which she tried to pursue work and economic independence and to cope with invalidism. Certainly, her diary is mainly composed of records of her daily occurrences and personal thoughts, but it also shows how she struggled with issues of women’s status imposed by society. As a result, this paper argues that her personal issues of struggling with her invalidism and making strenuous efforts to be economically independent by being a woman writer resonate with public issues that women in general had to deal with in her day.