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Wilt Idema was one of the writers/translators for the very excellent BRICK of a book Red Brush: Writing women in Imperial China which is a collection of women's writings with translations and biographies of the women. (Unfortunately it doesn't contain the original Chinese). But I did use it as one of the sources for my dissertation so was very excited to see that he was speaking at SOAS last week.
His lecture was on Manchu women poets of the 18th and 19th centuries. These women were all from Beijing and were all elite women. They were all published, and copies of their poems were passed around groups of women. It is worth pointing out that their collections are all available online through Harvard's library in a rather excellent website http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/
There was a handout of the poems in Chinese and Idema read out his English translations. The talk focused on five lesser known women writers. Tong Jia (apologies for not being able to write the characters as I'm at work) wrote an entire collection about the death of her parents, and another collection at the death of her husband, which featured 170 poems about his death and was called "Beside the coffin" (Of course as a Goth I have to read those!).
I was surprised by the amount of information available in these poems as a source for social history. Included in these poems were glimpses of daily life, as well as biographical feelings. The topics were limited but there was also several that dwelt with religion including visits to temples and ghosts! (I can't wait to read those!) The women writers were all considered to be very virtuous,
Poetry was by far the most popular format for women writers. However from the women mentioned there was also books of instruction for the family (not just for daughters in the family). There was also included a section about what young women should and shouldn't be doing. The argument given for why these women shouldn't be doing certain things was that they might marry into a less liberal family and be forbidden from doing them and then become sad or depressed. The list of criticism included not being respectful, filial and not knowing ritual only caring for food, jewellery and make up, men and women weren't separated, and women were freely associating with men.
It is worth mentioning that no Chinese women have been reported as writing novels. It has however recently been discovered that one of the women discussed wrote a sequel to Hong Lou Meng, called Hong Lou Meng Ying (Shadow). In the 19th century there were a LOT of "second rate" sequels written, but this is the only novel that has been shown to have been written by a woman. Idema, who has read it, mentioned that it was a fascinating look inside the inner chambers as it was incredibly detailed, and included a very graphic child birth scene! Unfortunately it's not on the poetry website but its another great motivator to study my Chinese so I can read it some day.
Idema is doing some of the first work on these particular poets, and it was great to be able to hear some groundbreaking new research first hand. I foresee that I will spend many many hours at the website in future. And look forward to seeing how this area of studies develops.
His lecture was on Manchu women poets of the 18th and 19th centuries. These women were all from Beijing and were all elite women. They were all published, and copies of their poems were passed around groups of women. It is worth pointing out that their collections are all available online through Harvard's library in a rather excellent website http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/
There was a handout of the poems in Chinese and Idema read out his English translations. The talk focused on five lesser known women writers. Tong Jia (apologies for not being able to write the characters as I'm at work) wrote an entire collection about the death of her parents, and another collection at the death of her husband, which featured 170 poems about his death and was called "Beside the coffin" (Of course as a Goth I have to read those!).
I was surprised by the amount of information available in these poems as a source for social history. Included in these poems were glimpses of daily life, as well as biographical feelings. The topics were limited but there was also several that dwelt with religion including visits to temples and ghosts! (I can't wait to read those!) The women writers were all considered to be very virtuous,
Poetry was by far the most popular format for women writers. However from the women mentioned there was also books of instruction for the family (not just for daughters in the family). There was also included a section about what young women should and shouldn't be doing. The argument given for why these women shouldn't be doing certain things was that they might marry into a less liberal family and be forbidden from doing them and then become sad or depressed. The list of criticism included not being respectful, filial and not knowing ritual only caring for food, jewellery and make up, men and women weren't separated, and women were freely associating with men.
It is worth mentioning that no Chinese women have been reported as writing novels. It has however recently been discovered that one of the women discussed wrote a sequel to Hong Lou Meng, called Hong Lou Meng Ying (Shadow). In the 19th century there were a LOT of "second rate" sequels written, but this is the only novel that has been shown to have been written by a woman. Idema, who has read it, mentioned that it was a fascinating look inside the inner chambers as it was incredibly detailed, and included a very graphic child birth scene! Unfortunately it's not on the poetry website but its another great motivator to study my Chinese so I can read it some day.
Idema is doing some of the first work on these particular poets, and it was great to be able to hear some groundbreaking new research first hand. I foresee that I will spend many many hours at the website in future. And look forward to seeing how this area of studies develops.