Vanity Fair

When the most recent movie of Vanity Fair came out I read a good review of it, it made me not want to watch the movie but rather read the book. I found a lovely Barnes and Nobel edition that was big, but light and had over a hundred of Thackery's illustrations in it. I put off reading it for awhile as it was so long but started it a few weeks ago and finished it today.

I loved it so much, I think it's one of the best novels I've read recently. I think definitely my favorite 19th century novel. It was so much fun, so elegantly written, so many wonderful passages I wish I had space to write them all out here. While maintaining proper dignity it also seemed to have reached the point where the characters were allowed to be people. Where they could have otherwise than the purest of motivations and the author didn't find it necessary to put in the false confessions and repentance found in books like Moll Flanders and Dangerous Liasons. I think because of that it seemed much more believable. Written in an almost chatty style, there were so many wonderful bits I barely no where to begin. Dobbin was one of my instant favorite characters, I was so pleased that things worked out for him in the end. Amelia so pathetic, as the author was always quick to point out, in her virtue and goodness, got to realize the mistake of it all. And Becky "such a villainess she even hated her own son" was practically perfect.

I think one of the most appealing things to me was the fact that so much of the book took place in Russell Square, after a short while I realized that was where SOAS is located and so I clearly needed to start paying closer attention. That way I could say everything I learned about living in London I had learned from Vanity Fair. The most important part of which was clearly how to get by on zero income a year. Apparently I need to get lots of credit, and indulge in a little gambling. I also need to have a nice pint of Porter on my return to England. There was definitely a strong financial aspect to the book, all about credit and income and how one needed so much to live. Yet it seemed to have a greater appeal than similar arguments did in Moll Flanders.

I have no idea how you could make the book into a two hour movie. I am curious now I've read it to see it. However, my video store also has a BBC miniseries of the book, which seems like a much better place to start. I just have such strong images of the characters in my head, I fear I don't want to shatter those images with someone else's vision. The worry is not so much over Becky as some might suspect but I don't know how they could possibly come close to filling Jos' shoes.

"Women in Chinese Society"

Women in Chinese Society edited by Margery Wolf and Roxanne Wilke is part of a 1970's series on anthropology studies of China. The series was summed up with Studies in Chinese Society edited by Arthur Wolf which I read first. I have also previously read the volume on Religion in Chinese Society, also edited by Arthur Wolf. So far everything I've read in this series has been very good. I bought this book back in the summer but as it looks at more modern China I put off reading it till last week. But I'm now glad I finally was able to get around to it. The book has a couple more historical and literary essays than the other books I've read in this series. It also spans a greater time line, starting in the Ming dynasty. It's a collection of essays by different scholars of the time written about the lives of women. Originally written in 1975 this is one of the earliest books I've found that addresses directly the role of women in Chinese society.

The first essay by Joanna Handlin looks at the role of women in Ming China, in the form of a book written by Lu Kun about the lives of exemplary women, and how this book differed from previous works and the new and more liberal ideas that it showed. While not written by a woman, this work showed clear views on thinking of women at the time, she interpreted as to what was considered normal and what was considered radical. She postulated how this work could contribute to the women's literary movement that sprung up 50 years afterwards. While not written by a woman this was a text which she believed was intended to be read by women.

The second essay by Mary Backus Rankin covered a very interesting subject, The case of Ch'iu Chin, a turn of the century woman radical and revolutionary, in a very disappointing manner. She seemed to gloss over many interesting points in Ch'iu's life, and make unfounded conclusions. For example the idea that any of the friendships she had with women could have been close enough or significant enough to replace the family that she had left, that she was inspired by the freedom of western women towards equality. When she mentioned how westerners were despised and that Ch'iu had inspiration from Mulan and Guan Yin. A fascinating woman that I fear had not had her story told accurately. The idea of a cross-dressing, bomb wielding, extortionist or joined the triads and befriended women sounds like an amazing story to me. Hopefully one day I'll be able to come up with a more modern and illuminating account of her life. Unfortunately this essay was by far one of the poorest written in this book.

The third essay was Marjorie Topley "Marriage Resistance in Rural Kwantung". A fascinating and groundbreaking look at the women of the Canton delta who formed women's associations and waited to get married, making money and taking jobs first. Several ideas in this essay have since been disputed, or further explained by Janice Stockard in her book Women of the Canton Delta. But it is a fascinating area of research and an interesting look at a very untraditional view of women's roles in Chinese society. This is also the area that "women's script" was written. (I believe)

Arthur Wolf's essay is a very factual look at the patterns of marriage and child birth of the women in Taiwan based on records of the Japanese collected between 1900 and 1945. He looks at the commonality of different forms of marriage and how the "traditional" patterns are followed in only about half the cases and questions, and wants more research to be done in other areas, questioning how common these traditional ideals were really the norm.

Margery Wolf's essay follows along similar lines, using the same data as her husband, to look at suicide among women in China. Elsewhere in the world women were half as likely to commit suicide than men, in China they were just as likely. She looks at the different cultural reasons for suicide and questions the western standard of assuming that all suicides will fit into their model.

Yi-Tsi Feuerwerker's essay looks at women writers in the 1920's and 30's. She is quick to point out the lack of history of women writers in China, and the short comings of the writers she is studying. However almost every conclusion she makes then seems to have a little aside saying the exception to this being Ting Ling (Ding Ling) who.... As Ding Ling is my favorite women writer from that time, sharing the same bias as the author made me happy.

Emily Ahern's essay addressed the power and pollution of women in Taiwan, an interesting look at the influence of menstruation, child birth and a person's relationship to the community and the gods. I had read this article earlier and so only skimmed it this time. But found it an interesting anthropology essay. And highly recommend Ahern's book.

The last essay was by Elizabeth Johnson and looked at the patterns of childbearing in Kwan Mun Hau village. It was an interesting look at a rural community that had been transferred to the city and were now making money from rents of their property. The study group she used was rather small and focused mainly on the older members of the community. However what was interesting to me was the comparison between this and the article I read recently on Japanese women and reproduction issues. There abortion was the norm and most common use of birth control. Here women were opposed to abortion thinking it could be dangerous and instead were using other forms of birth control, particularly IUD's. The difference in cultures and approaches challenges anyone who likes to break things down to an Eastern vs. Western approach. It also seemed odd to me that rural Chinese women would be more "progressive" in their attitude than Japanese women several decades later.

On the whole a nice little book of essays. The oddest part however in the edition I have all the authors use footnotes however none of these are included in the book itself. Something that I find very odd and a little annoying. Still proof that every now and then it is possible to find a good book on Chinese culture in the used book shops here in Seattle.