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197:"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."
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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
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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.
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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 . . ."
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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.
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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 . . . . "
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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
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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
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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.
429:. Cambridge: Harvard. p. 290, in the article "The Changing Relationship Between Literature and Life: Aspects of the Writer's Role in Ding Ling" by Yi-tsi M. Feuerwerker.
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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
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A major influence on the story was Ding Ling's personal experiences at that time, including depression, exhaustion, and impoverishment. Dr.
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Ding Ling uses this story to criticize
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149:"Miss Sophia's Diary" was written in 1927 and first published in the influential Early Republic of China "
224:"Miss Sophia's Diary" is a landmark in the evolving role of women in China during the era marked by the
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Much of the diary concerns Miss Sophia's romantic attraction and sexual desire, and even reveals her
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was a major influence on Ding Ling in writing "Miss Sophia's Diary".
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written in 1927. The story confides around a young woman who has
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Tani E. Barlow, translator, "Miss Sophia's Diary," in
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See full discussion in the editor's introduction to
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456:, Tani E. Barlow, ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989).
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I Myself Am A Woman: Selected
Writings of Ding Ling
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I Myself Am A Woman: Selected
Writings of Ding Ling
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I Myself Am A Woman: Selected
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122:The Diary of Miss Sophie
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483:Tuberculosis in fiction
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252:Comparative perspective
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226:New Culture Movement
84:Shāfēi nǚshì de rìjì
334:Infobase Publishing
230:May Fourth Movement
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131:Ding Ling
336:, 2002.
205:soul."
145:History
139:Beijing
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54:莎菲女士的日记
40:莎菲女士的日記
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