Three Thanksgivings | Literary Criticism & Book Review

Three Thanksgivings Critical Overview

Gilman's story "Three Thanksgivings" has received very little critical attention. It was first published in 1909 in Gilman's journal, Forerunner, which may have been part of the problem. Gilman had attracted the attention of critics before. In her entry on Gilman for the Dictionary of Literary Biography, Robin Miskolcze notes that Gilman's first published poem, "Similar Cases," received "a letter of praise from William Dean Howells, a respected writer and editor of the Atlantic Monthly." However, though Gilman's earlier writings attracted critics, Forerunner was largely ignored by reviewers. As Gary Scharnhorst notes in his 1985 book, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Unfortunately, few critics, not even Howells—though Gilman twice sent him bound volumes—deigned to notice the magazine."

Part of this neglect was due to some early critics' assertion that most of the writings in Forerunner were too heavy-handed in their feminist approach. In his 1991 Charlotte Perkins Gilman: A Nonfiction Reader,...
(read more)