Variations on a Yellow Theme

From The Yellow Site

The color yellow signifies the decadent and aesthetic attitudes that were fashionable at the turn of the 19th century, typified by such publications as The Yellow Book, a literary journal associated with Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley. It has also been suggested that the color yellow represents quarantine — an allusion to decay, disease, and specifically mental illness.

The Yellow Wallpaper, written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1891 and published in 1892, was explicitly rejected for publication in 1891 by a physician who claimed "it would drive anyone mad" to read it. It chronicles a woman's descent into madness under the misguided and oppressive care of her husband, who confines her in a room with yellow wallpaper, within which she begins to see visions.

The Mystery of the Yellow Room, written by Gaston Leroux (author of The Phantom Of The Opera) in 1908, may have been partly inspired by The Yellow Wallpaper or The King In Yellow. It concerns a woman found near death inside a locked room and is one of the first "locked door" mysteries. Unmasking the true identities and hidden relationships of the characters is the key to the mystery.