The Madwoman in the Attic:  The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar was published in 1979 by the Yale University Press. This piece explored how women writers "both battled and internalized" the limitations and expectations set for their gender in the nineteenth century, and how that affected their writing. According to Gilbert and Gubar, writing was seen as a creative process akin to the Judeo-Christian tradition of divine creation by God, which led to writing being portrayed as a naturally male activity, and one that was dominated by male sexuality. Gilbert and Gubar argue that this produced an internal struggle in women writers, who were met with personal and societal resistance, leading to to "madness" of women writers and characters. This text revolutionized the way nineteenth century women writers, characters, and readers are analyzed and interpreted by literary and feminist scholars.

Source:  

Gilbert, Sandra M, and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. 1st ed., Yale University Press, 1979.