Abstract How does color, especially historical color, become inscribed in literature? What relation holds between the materiality of color at any given historical moment and the concurrent literary representations of color experience? This article proposes, first, that in historicizing literary color we should consider theories of color psychology alongside technologies of color production. It then uses the discourse of color in late nineteenth-century design theory, which focused precisely on the relation between chromatic arrangements and their mental effects, to show how historical ideas about color informed the writing of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, particularly her depictions of color experience, but also her larger approaches to narrative. The article concludes by arguing that the model of color popularized in home decoration—one in which colors produce potent yet unnoticed psychological effects—illuminates the relation between Gilman’s fiction and her broader efforts at social reform.

中文翻译：

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如何阅读颜色：书写，墙纸以及Charlotte Perkins Gilman的外壳

摘要颜色，尤其是历史颜色如何在文学中被铭刻？在任何给定的历史时刻，色彩的实质性与并发的色彩体验的文学表现之间有什么关系？本文提出，首先，在对文学色彩进行历史化的过程中，我们应将色彩心理学理论与色彩产生技术一起考虑。然后，它使用19世纪末期的设计理论中的色彩论述，该理论准确地侧重于色彩安排与其心理效果之间的关系，以显示关于色彩的历史观念如何影响夏洛特·珀金斯·吉尔曼的著作，特别是她对色彩体验的描绘，也是她更大的叙事方式。