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Enclosed Self-introspection and Camouflage: Interior Monologue in Republican Chinese Women’s Epistolary and Diary Writing

Received: 21 March 2021     Accepted: 31 March 2021     Published: 13 April 2021
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Abstract

In Republican women writers’ works, the diary and epistolary modes are two common styles to reveal characters’ interior monologue (IM) and the flow of consciousness in fiction. The women writers often attempt to convey the self-introspection with female awareness through both narrative forms; in particular, women writers use it to express the narra¬tor/characters’ IM in a private enclosed situation. Through the specific textual analysis, it can be seen that the authors attempted to imply something through both of these narrative forms; in particular, women writers used this as a way to express the characters’ IM in private situations; for another thing, the usage of epistolary or diary forms could enable women writers to avoid possible criticism or blame when they tried to express their feminist feelings or thoughts. To some extent, this private narrative form provided an existential space for their discourse. No matter for the diary or the letter, seemingly it is merely a personal expression of thoughts and emotion, however in fact this was women writers’ intentional choice. They clearly knew that female writing was not yet the established norm, so most of women writers showed cautiousness in their creative writing. It achieves a more effective negotiation with a patriarchal society.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 9, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14
Page(s) 70-78
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Women’s Literature, Interior Monologue, Epistolary and Diary Writing, Patriarchy

References
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[3] Cynthia Huff, “That Profoundly Female, and Feminist Genre’: The Diary as Feminist Practice,” Women’s Studies Quarterly 17, no. 3/4 (1989): 6-14.
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[10] Ding Ling, Ding Ling wenji [The collections of Ding Ling] (Hong Kong: Huiwenge, 1972).
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[13] Stephen Angle and Michael Slote, Virtue Ethics and Confucianism (London and New York: Routledge, 2013).
[14] Susan Sniader Lanser, Fictions of Authority: Women Writers and Narrative Voice (New York: Cornell University Press, 1992).
[15] Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York and London: Routledge, 1990).
[16] Tze-Ian D Sang, The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-Sex Desire in Modern China (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003).
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[19] Leonore Hoffman and Margo Cullery, Women’s Personal Narratives: Essays in Criticism and Pedagogy (New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1985).
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[21] Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009).
[22] Li Xunan, “Zhongguo xiandai rijiti xiaoshuo lun” [On modern Chinese diary fiction], (PhD thesis, The University of Jilin, 2019).
[23] Grace S. Fong, “Gender and the Failure of Canonization: Anthologizing Women’s Poetry in the Late Ming,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 26 (2004): 129-149.
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  • APA Style

    Liu Yixin. (2021). Enclosed Self-introspection and Camouflage: Interior Monologue in Republican Chinese Women’s Epistolary and Diary Writing. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 9(2), 70-78. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14

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    ACS Style

    Liu Yixin. Enclosed Self-introspection and Camouflage: Interior Monologue in Republican Chinese Women’s Epistolary and Diary Writing. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2021, 9(2), 70-78. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14

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    AMA Style

    Liu Yixin. Enclosed Self-introspection and Camouflage: Interior Monologue in Republican Chinese Women’s Epistolary and Diary Writing. Int J Lit Arts. 2021;9(2):70-78. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14,
      author = {Liu Yixin},
      title = {Enclosed Self-introspection and Camouflage: Interior Monologue in Republican Chinese Women’s Epistolary and Diary Writing},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {9},
      number = {2},
      pages = {70-78},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20210902.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20210902.14},
      abstract = {In Republican women writers’ works, the diary and epistolary modes are two common styles to reveal characters’ interior monologue (IM) and the flow of consciousness in fiction. The women writers often attempt to convey the self-introspection with female awareness through both narrative forms; in particular, women writers use it to express the narra¬tor/characters’ IM in a private enclosed situation. Through the specific textual analysis, it can be seen that the authors attempted to imply something through both of these narrative forms; in particular, women writers used this as a way to express the characters’ IM in private situations; for another thing, the usage of epistolary or diary forms could enable women writers to avoid possible criticism or blame when they tried to express their feminist feelings or thoughts. To some extent, this private narrative form provided an existential space for their discourse. No matter for the diary or the letter, seemingly it is merely a personal expression of thoughts and emotion, however in fact this was women writers’ intentional choice. They clearly knew that female writing was not yet the established norm, so most of women writers showed cautiousness in their creative writing. It achieves a more effective negotiation with a patriarchal society.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - In Republican women writers’ works, the diary and epistolary modes are two common styles to reveal characters’ interior monologue (IM) and the flow of consciousness in fiction. The women writers often attempt to convey the self-introspection with female awareness through both narrative forms; in particular, women writers use it to express the narra¬tor/characters’ IM in a private enclosed situation. Through the specific textual analysis, it can be seen that the authors attempted to imply something through both of these narrative forms; in particular, women writers used this as a way to express the characters’ IM in private situations; for another thing, the usage of epistolary or diary forms could enable women writers to avoid possible criticism or blame when they tried to express their feminist feelings or thoughts. To some extent, this private narrative form provided an existential space for their discourse. No matter for the diary or the letter, seemingly it is merely a personal expression of thoughts and emotion, however in fact this was women writers’ intentional choice. They clearly knew that female writing was not yet the established norm, so most of women writers showed cautiousness in their creative writing. It achieves a more effective negotiation with a patriarchal society.
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Author Information
  • Department of Asian Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

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