Mary Lynn Bracht is the author of White Chrysanthemum, published in 2018. The historical fiction novel illuminates the suffering of Korean "comfort women" as it follows two Korean sisters separated by WWII. Mary Lynn Bracht studied Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and received her Master’s Degree in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London.
Your book, White Chrysanthemum, is a historical fiction based on the real-world experiences of “comfort women” during WWII. How did you develop an interest in this dark and often overlooked part of history, and what motivated you to write a novel centered around it?
White Chrysanthemum began as a short story I wrote during my Master’s degree studies. I first heard of the plight of the ‘comfort women’ ten years earlier while I was preparing for a trip to South Korea with my mother. At that time, I had never heard of them, even though I studied Anthropology for my undergraduate studies where I learned of many other atrocities committed against women and children throughout history. The topic of ‘comfort women’ never came up, even at home with my mother, who grew up in South Korea. When I questioned her during our trip, her response shocked me. She said everyone knows what happened to them in Korea, they just don’t speak about it. Then ten years later, I saw the ‘comfort women’ protesting on the news, and not much had changed for them in all that time. I tried to imagine what it must feel like to not only endure and survive such horrible treatment by the Japanese wartime military, but then also for the women to experience neglect from the Korean government and the global community for decades. The world seemed to want to pretend it never happened. So I sat down and wrote a short story about Hana’s capture and her will to escape. The short story grew, it seemed to have a life of its own, and it soon became my MA thesis, five chapters, and then a year later, it had grown into a novel.
Can you talk about your research process for the novel? How did you approach gathering historical information and personal stories to ensure an authentic portrayal of the Korean comfort women during WWII?
I read a lot! I was surprised to find so many stories about individual Korean ‘comfort women’ documented throughout the years, beginning in the 1990’s. I read articles/chapters from anthropology, sociology, and feminist and women’s studies texts, online texts/articles/videos, and books on WWII and the Japanese Military. I gave myself six months to research, and then I began to write Hana and Emi’s stories. I also researched during the writing stage, needing more background information on Manchuria, Russia, and railroads. It was one of the largest projects I had ever attempted, and I learned a lot!
Why is it important to bring the stories of comfort women to light, and how do you think historical fiction makes this part of history more accessible to a wider audience?
The experiences of the ‘comfort women’ are important to share and continue to share even as the last one leaves this world because war will always be a part of humanity, yet the mistreatment of women and children in war must never be tolerated. We cannot expect future wars to be free of war crimes, but we can expect those who commit war crimes to be held accountable and their victims to be granted justice. If man cannot cease to wage war, he can suffer for his crimes carried out in war against the innocent. We are seeing these crimes by Russian soldiers every day in Ukraine, and there must be justice for all the victims.
Historical fiction gives terrible events in history a vehicle to reach people who might shy away from learning about them in documentaries or non-fiction texts. A fictional story can give readers a break from the facts and horrors of real events, allowing them a moment of relief while looking at another part of the story, perhaps a love affair or beautiful landscape or even another historical event that adds to the main story. Many readers read to escape real life, so giving them a bit of fiction along with true events can make history more palatable, relatable, and in my own novel, bearable. Emi’s storyline gave my readers a break from the harrowing events of Hana’s life. Without her, many readers would never have read to the end of Hana’s story.
Since the book came out in 2018, what progress or movement have you seen regarding the representation and scholarship of comfort women?
I’m not sure if I have been noticing more attention to ‘comfort women’ in the media because of my own interest or if there is more interest globally, but I would say I hear about them more often since the publication of White Chrysanthemum and more people seem aware of the ‘comfort women’ and their stories. The 2015 ‘agreement’ between S. Korea and Japan and the subsequent threat to remove the Statue of Peace from Seoul (and following ‘disagreements’ year after year) keep the protest and plight of the activists in the news much more often than before. Last year, a doctoral student contacted me for an interview for his thesis, which included the ‘comfort women’ issue. It’s wonderful to see the grandmothers being recognized globally for not only what happened to them, but also for their activism. It’s a shame that it has taken so long for them to reach this level of prominence.
What are you working on next? Do you think you will return to the topic of comfort women in your work?
At the moment I’m working on my second novel. It’s another research intensive project, but one that I have enjoyed studying and writing. I’m not sure if I will return to the topic of ‘comfort women’ any time soon. Perhaps when the last grandmother has left this earth, it will be time to remember her and her sisters once again, though it pains my heart to realise this date will come too soon.
Thank you so much!
Learn more about Mary Lynn Bracht's works here.