I MYSELF AM A WOMAN: Selected Writings of Ding Ling

This collection marks the first US publication of the works of this important Chinese woman writer (the Chinese publisher Panda has previously published two of her works in translation). Ding Ling (1904-1985) has been called, alternately, the Chinese Flaubert and Virginia Woolf. China's preeminent modernist and feminist of the first half of this century, she devoted her life and work to social and artistic reform at home, suffering kidnapping, imprisonment, and exile along the way as her country's political winds shifted for and against her. Two pieces stand out here: ""Miss Sophia's Diary"" (1927), her most famous, introspective tale of a woman's suppressed desires; and ""Thoughts on March 8,"" a bold 1942 feminist essay commemorating International Women's Day. A strong range of stories and essays fills out the team-translated collection. A must-read for devotees of Chinese and feminist literature, despite a lengthy, muddled introduction by Barlow.