Interview with Jing-Jing Lee, Author of How We Disappeared

Jing-Jing Lee is the author of How We Disappeared, published in 2019. The historical fiction novel is set in the author’s birth country of Singapore and details a woman who survived the Japanese occupation of WWII. The book opens a window on a little-known period of history, revealing the strength and bravery shown by numerous women in the face of terrible cruelty. In 2011, Jing-Jing Lee gained a Masters of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford.

Your book How We Disappeared is a historical fiction based upon the real world experiences of “comfort women” during WWII. How did you become interested in this dark part of history, and why did you decide to write a novel focused on it?

I decided to write a novel about the topic because one of my characters from a previous publication was a "comfort woman” during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. I had only briefly sketched the character’s history in that book and wanted to write about her in a full-length novel – she became Wang Di in HWD.

I was also quite annoyed by the fact that few people outside of Asia knew about the horrors the Japanese Occupation wreaked on countries such as Malaya (which constituted Singapore as well as Malaysia in the 1930s), Indonesia and the Philippines and simply wanted more people to pay attention to this topic.

Xinran, author of The Good Women of China said of How We Disappeared; “This is a brilliant, heart-breaking story with an unforgettable image of how women were silenced and disappeared by both war and culture.” What cultural factors played a role in the silencing and disappearing of comfort women?

The silencing of “comfort women” was a result of the stigmatisation of sexual assault, which still plays a part today. Singapore was/is a largely patriarchal society (as are most societies in Asia) and women, certainly in the 1940s, were seen as objects owned by their family (especially their fathers and husbands). This meant that rape of the women in a family cast shame on the family as a whole, not just on the women themselves. Therefore, any instances of sexual assault had to be kept a secret. In addition to the stigma surrounding rape, the reluctance of these women to talk about their experiences during the war meant that they did not seek medical help for diseases they contracted and injuries suffered – a sizeable number of these women died as a result.

Are these cultural factors still at play today?

Yes.

Why is it important for the stories of comfort women to be told, and how do you think historical fiction makes this part of history more accessible to wider audiences?

The problems that stem from misogyny are still relevant today. I think it is easier for people to feel connected to any part of history if a face and name is put to a story.

What are you working on next? Do you think you will return to the comfort women in your work?

I’m working on a book about income disparity and the power dynamics that can be seen playing between the rich and the poor, set in contemporary, COVID-era Singapore. And as I’ve done my best to write about the topic of comfort women in this book and said/written all I can, I don’t think I will return to the topic in the future.

Thank you so much!

Learn more about Jing-Jing Lee's How We Disappeared here.