"Miss Sophia's Diary", or "The Diary of Miss Sophie", is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

by the Chinese author Ding Ling, the story confides around a young women who has

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

and has left her family for

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. She struggles with her identity and the story describes her life through first person diary entries. This type of writing can give impressions of the daily struggle of a modern woman in China. The entries consist of her thoughts and emotions, in particularly about her relationships, sexuality and feelings towards her inner desires.

History

"Miss Sophia's Diary" was written in 1927 and first published in the influential Early Republic of China "

Fiction Monthly The ''Fiction Monthly'' ( ''Xiaoshuo Yuebao''; Original English title: ''The Short Story Magazine'') was a Chinese literary journal published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai. First published in July 1910, its original editors were Yun Tieqiao ...

" (小说月报). Ding Ling named the main character after

Sofia Perovskaya Sophia Lvovna Perovskaya (russian: Со́фья Льво́вна Перо́вская; – ) was a Russian Empire revolutionary and a member of the revolutionary organization ''Narodnaya Volya''. She helped orchestrate the assassination of ...

, a Russian revolutionary who was executed for orchestrating the assassination of the tsar Alexandr II. A major influence on the story was Ding Ling's personal experiences at that time, including depression, exhaustion, and impoverishment. Dr.

Tani E. Barlow Tani Barlow is a scholar of feminism, postcoloniality, and history in Asia and most specifically in China. She is the George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities at Rice University. Formerly, Barlow was a professor of history and women studie ...

describes Ding Ling in 1927 as "miserable, drinking heavily, dispirited by the national tragedy of political counterrevolution, and exhausted by her impoverished, often squalid life in boarding-house rooms . . . . " More generally, Ding Ling was passing from the milieu of a girls' schools to the male-dominated literary scene and involvement with some of China's most sophisticated male writers.

Major themes

The major subject matter of "Miss Sophia's Diary" is a person's thoughts and feelings. The "interior" nature of the story is reinforced by its setting in a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

. Much of the diary concerns Miss Sophia's romantic attraction and sexual desire, and even reveals her

bisexuality Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, ...

. More generally, the diary displays rapid swings of mood and outlook, and captures complex ambivalence of the subject about virtually everything in her life, what one scholar called "the chaos of personality." "Miss Sophia's Diary" provides an unorthodox perspective on basic aspects of life. It expresses frank, unflattering views of the male gender: "glib, phony, cautious". . . "make my skin crawl". . . "bastard". It also shows an unflattering side of women: cruel, tough, selfish ("the lovely news that someone got sick over me"). . . "savage" It turns traditional morality on its head: the chasteness of her friends Yunlin and Yufang is "just one of those strange, unexplained things in life." The story shows a person in all her complexity and contradictions. For instance, it shows how Miss Sophia is simultaneously able to exercise power over others, and yet is powerless. A recurring motif is that she has the power to command the attention of others, but not to make them understand her. She is attracted to a man named Ling Jishi for his physical beauty, but is stimulated by the jealousy of her friend Weidi. Moreover, Ling Jishi has "the beautiful form I adore" but a "cheap, ordinary soul." Furthermore, Miss Sophia has varying degrees of awareness of her own complexity and contradictions. The author even speaks to her "readers" and admits that the diary is just one (crafted) version of her experience, and just another exercise in controlling the attention of others. The emotional complexity of the character can be sensed from the fact that, in the closing sentences of the story, her mood ranges from "profound anguish . . . a mere trifle . . . agony . . . excitement . . . laugh wildly, I feel so sorry for myself . . . pathetic . . ." Ding Ling uses this story to criticize Chinese society for not accommodating an independent woman like Sophia.

Historical significance

"Miss Sophia's Diary" is a landmark in the evolving role of women in China during the era marked by the

New Culture Movement The New Culture Movement () was a movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern and western ideals like democracy and science. Arising out of ...

and

May Fourth Movement The May Fourth Movement was a Chinese anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement which grew out of student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919. Students gathered in front of Tiananmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) to protest the Chin ...

.See full discussion in the editor's introduction to ''I Myself Am A Woman: Selected Writings of Ding Ling'', Tani E. Barlow, ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989). A subtext of "Miss Sophia's Diary", left unspoken until late in the story, is that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the instinct to be attracted to someone like Ling Jishi and the fact that he is so irredeemably unenlightened. Of equal historical significance is the interior nature of the narrative in "Miss Sophia's Diary". In contrast to other first person narratives, even those using the "diary" format, such as the landmark " Diary of a Madman" by

Lu Xun Zhou Shuren (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), better known by his pen name Lu Xun (or Lu Sun; ; Wade–Giles: Lu Hsün), was a Chinese writer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature. ...

, "Miss Sophia's Diary" is unusual in the frankness with which it reveals a real person's emotions.

Comparative perspective

Madame Bovary ''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emp ...

'' by

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

was a major influence on Ding Ling in writing "Miss Sophia's Diary".

English translations

*Tani E. Barlow, translator, "Miss Sophia's Diary," in ''I Myself Am A Woman: Selected Writings of Ding Ling'', Tani E. Barlow, ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989). *Joseph S.M. Lau, translator, "Diary of Miss Sophia," ''Tamkang Review 5'', No. 1 (1974). *W.F. Jenner, translator, "Miss Sophie's Diary" (Beijing: Panda Books, 1985).

References

* Kuhlman, Erika A. ''A to Z of Women in World History''.

Infobase Publishing Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including ...

, 2002. , 9780816043347.

Footnotes

{{Authority control 1927 short stories Chinese Republican era short stories Fictional diaries Short stories by Ding Ling Short stories set in Beijing Tuberculosis in fiction