Group portraits of women during the Taisho period
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About the novel:
On a personal level: Ma Ma started writing this novel last year, but halfway through I felt that my writing style and conception were not capable of supporting such a complex subject matter.
It seems difficult for me to guarantee the quality of ordinary stories, not to mention that this kind of group portrait involves social sciences.
Because it couldn't live up to my imagination, I put the novel on hold after writing many words.
The reason why I picked up this novel again this year is that Ma Ma has been in a very chaotic state for a long time. I think I may need some love to let me ignore it.
So I started thinking about the possibility of writing a novel again, but my inspiration came and went quickly, so I worried that I would give up halfway.
Later, I thought again, don't worry about so much, just write down what I want to say and what I want to express in this way.
There are many inspirations for this novel, so I won't list them all here. Please write them down after each chapter or in the postscript of this novel.
I still remember that at that time I exactly wanted to write a group portrait of women. The reason is that from a reader's perspective, I can't find a novel about feminism that has a good intention, good writing, and a good story, and of course I can't do it myself.
Out of this mentality, I tried to conceive a novel like this, a story about feminism, not about love.
Other levels:
As a woman, I silently learned about different viewpoints on women's rights issues, which had a great impact on me.
Gradually I realized that even though we had achieved a lot, we still had a long way to go.
Because in many places that we cannot see, the majority of female compatriots are still half asleep.
This fact hit me a little bit. I am a somewhat pessimistic person.
However, during this period, I happened to be reading some related books.
I became aware of the void of women in recent historical narratives.
What we now regard as daily life must be privileges that someone has won for us.
So I took a rough look at how women fought and participated in politics in modern times.
Even in a bad situation, they still can't stop their enthusiasm.
They were brave and tenacious at that time. Thinking of this, I seemed to be encouraged. The friendship between women has always been very touching.
Although I am a somewhat withdrawn person, I have always been hurt by people of the same sex when I was growing up.
But as I grew up, I slowly understood a lot.
It's not that they hurt me because they are women.
It's that they hurt me, and they just happen to be women.
In a sense, I shouldn't blame them. There are other people who really need to be blamed.
I was also a little sad that I didn't have the sincere friendship between Lila and Lenon in reality.
Having said that, I have also received kindness from many women I have never met.
Regardless of whether anyone reads it or not, as long as I am still in this world, I will keep writing and writing about women's stories.
Maybe after a long time, someone clicked on this novel and got some inspiration?
Wildfires never burn out, but spring breezes blow them again.
Concept: Women are the sun