(Commemorating Mary Daly 2) My Memoirs of Mary Daly (1928-2010) by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang

[Author’s Note: My personal encounter with Mary Daly, a U.S. post-Christian feminist thinker, goes back to 1994, if not earlier. I stayed in Korea from 1994-1997 during which I translated two of Mary Daly’s early books, Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women’s Liberation 하나님 아버지를 넘어서 (Seoul: Ewha Women’s University Press, 1996) and Church and the Second Sex 교회와 제 2의 성 (Seoul: Women’s News Press, 1997) in Korean. I carried with me to the U.S.A. our correspondences in the form of letters and documents mostly faxed to each other for the period of more than two decades. Later at one point I digitized them in images. Through these memoir series, I share some highlights of my memories with Mary Daly, her influence on my feminist thinking, and my own radical feminist journey to Magoist Cetaceanism.]

I stayed in Korea from an early month in 1994 until August 15 1997 when I came to Claremont California, USA. I first contacted Mary Daly by letter sometime in 1994. (Mary’s 2007 recommendation letter states that I first contacted her in 1994. See my previous essay part 1 here.) I lost my own letter mailed to her home address and her school address. I had sent the same letter to her in two addresses to ensure her receipt. My memory is vague regarding what I told her in my first letter. I must have told her my story of disillusionment to Christianity. But my first actual conversation with her was a phone call. (See my previous essay part 1 here.)

I received a formal letter from her, faxed to me dated April 22 1996, shown below. From Mary’s letter, I can infer the contents of my first letter to her. First off, I must have told her that the publisher, Ewha Women’s University Press, notified me that my proposal to translate one of her books in Korean was accepted. As I write this, my memories return one by one. A feminist professor of Ewha Women’s University, Hyeong Cho, who was on the editorial board of this press at that time, sent me a heartfelt letter (and later I spoke with her by phone), saying that the press had decided on translating Beyond God the Father earlier but could not find a qualified translator. Thus, she said that they were happy to receive my proposal. I danced to myself out of joy, celebrating the launching of my radical feminist voyage. I intuited that my ship was embarking.

It was likely that I proposed to the press that I wanted to translate one of Mary Daly’s books and proposed two or three books including Gyn/Ecology: Metaethics of Radical Feminism, which was my favorite. (At that time, I wanted to translate only one book but ended up doing another one the next year and published it by a different press.) I remember myself telling Mary Daly that I submitted a proposal to the press. I told her that I personally hoped to translate Gyn/Ecololgy. Mary did not agree with my idea of translating Gyn/Ecology because of numerous wordplays and neologisms employed in it, I think she explained it to me that much. Given the time of the 1990s, Mary was under attack from many directions amongst feminists. And Gyn/Ecology was a controversial book, harshly debated by non-white feminists. (I learned that only afterward, during my years of Ph.D. studies coursework at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont California). The 1990s was a vulnerable time for her in particular. And Mary may have been in need of shielding her books from possible attacks. I loved this book thoroughly. Upon hearing from me about the press’ decision to go with Beyond God the Father, Mary affirmed that the press’ choice was the best one. I went along with the press and Mary.

Deep inside me, however, I still wished to translate Gyn/Eocology. I was unafraid of translating Gyn/Ecology or any of her books. My mind was as clear as crystal. Nothing could be intimidating to me. The confidence that I had is hard to explain. I knew I would convey Mary Daly’s thoughts in Korean correctly because I knew what it was to me (it was shape-shifting and a ray of light that arrived to me from far). Gyn/Ecology gave me wings. If there were no one Korean word to fit, I would have used two or three words with hyphens. If this book was chosen by the press, the landscape of Korean feminist discourse at least linguistically would have been altered. I don’t know how Gyn/Ecology was accepted by Korean feminists. Even in translating Beyond God the Father, I had to coin numerous Korean words. And I was able to explain them by creating translator’s notes. I enjoyed creating new words. I was a self-identified poet and a philosopher from my teen years, even if I majored in chemistry for undergraduate studies. Nothing could have stopped me from the course of my life that was just about to take shape in a new form, a radical feminist.

(In another space, I would like to tell you how I came across her book, Gyn/Ecology. I already explained how I came upon Beyond God the Father. Also why I was so happy during this time of translating Mary Daly’s books.)

Secondly, I must have told Mary that I was going to a graduate school in Los Angeles California to study feminist theology in the summer of 1996. This was a small school run by a former Catholic organization of religious sisters. I had decided to return to a graduate school to study post-Christian feminist theology or feminism in religion. To continue a graduate study was my second choice in my early twenties. I tried the first card, which was to live my life as a Catholic overseas missionary in a foreign land, but learned that that was not what I wanted for the rest of my life. The school in Los Angeles that I applied for admission proved to be unavailable due to the school’s legal issues. That was an unexpected turn. So I had to stay one more year in Korea. I explained to Mary about this and told her that I needed to search for another graduate school in the U.S. Mary sent me a booklet that listed the names of graduate schools and programs offering women’s studies, feminism in religion, or feminist theology, which I carried with me to the U.S. and kept it for a long time. I did not simply wait for one more year, however. I wanted to translate the second book of Mary Daly. My old Korean Catholic acquaintances had welcomed me; They might have thought I would make myself a good Catholic feminist theologian. Korean Catholics were possibly envious of Korean Protestant feminist theologians. I knew I would be breaking their hearts. I had no intention that I would lapse back to Catholicism or Christianity. A priest who came to support me chose this book, Church and the Second Sex, for me to translate and I proceeded as fast as I could. All of these things took place quickly. I intuited that I did not have much time in Korea. I was saying goodbye to old patriarchal beliefs and habits as a whole.

To track back, I had not wanted to come back to the U.S. first. Through my studies, work, and life in Korea, New York, and the Philippines as a member of the U.S.-based Catholic women’s missionary order prior to 1994, I had been disillusioned not only to Christianity and other patriarchal religions and ideologies but also the Eurocentric way of thinking and society. I had studied about the colonial history, people, and culture of Latin Americas for nearly 3 years seriously while I was in New York. And I experienced white Christian presence in the Philippines. I am not talking of these matters on a personal level. I had met wonderful women from all over the world. I am talking about the structural side of racism, colonialism, and sexism within and the church and the state. (I will have to come back to this topic at a later time elsewhere.) I was a decolonialist radical feminist, which I could not name then. In any case, there was no one who could see what was happening to me inside. I was shedding off my old skin. However, I found no graduate school in Korea available to me. I was no fresh or ambitious student with attractive credentials. I did not regret or envy those things (I would have been so without my experiences in Maryknoll Sisters). What I sought was not just a graduate degree. Or a job afterward. I was laying down the foundation for my life’s course. I was a spiritual seeker at the core. My graduate study must have a meaning for my life’s search. I had no tactics or strategies. I just wanted to study. I dared to articulate openly that I wanted to study post-Christian feminism. In my brief visit with the head professor of Christian Studies in a graduate school of South Korea, which was most famed for feminist theological studies, I told her that I wanted to study post-Christian feminist theology. The interview was short because it was clear that I did not fit her program. Then, I found myself with no school in Korea. On the one hand, I was not a traditional Korean feminist, after all I left Christianity as a whole, to Korean feminists. On the other hand, I did not romanticize my new life as a graduate student in the U.S. I called myself a feminist expatriate. 

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Mary Daly
55 A Norwood Ave
Newton Centre, MA 02159

April 22, 1996

Dear Hye Sook Hwang,

Thank you for your warm and fascinating letter and for your kind words about my books. Letters such as yours give me the Courage to keep on writing. Now, as to your questions:

First, I own the foreign rights to my books. Therefore, I think the next step would be for the Ewha Women’s University Press to write to me directly asking for the Korean rights. If they do this, then you and I would have to discuss whether you are qualified to translate the books. Letters sent to Boston College or to my American publishers sometimes do not reach me.

Second, I hope that you have a good time in L.A. if you do come to the U.S. in May. You should know that I am on leave from teaching until the fall of 1997 in order to write my new book: Quintessence: Re-Calling the Outrageous Contagious Courage of Women. I have no plans to come to the West Coast in May or June of this year. However, I hope that we will meet sometime, somewhere.

On the foreground level these are extremely hard times for women, especially Radical Feminists. But in the Background it is a different story. I am attempting to write about this in Quintessence. I am Dis-covering ways in which we can transform our diaspora into Diaspora–achieving positive, Magnetic Metamorphic communicating across Space and Time.

I respect your bravery and your desire to meet your own breed. I do think that women who are truly Radical, that is, in Touch with our own roots, find that we have Magnetic powers–drawing to us what we need. I can recommend a very good women who lives near L.A. This is [XX, her name protected by the author, Helen Hye-Soo Hwang] (often mentioned in my books). Her address is [xxx, her address is protected by the author, Helen Hye-Soo Hwang]. Her phone number is [xxx, her address is protected by the author, Helen Hye-Soo Hwang]. She can be reached by Fax [xxx, her address is protected by the author, Helen Hye-Soo Hwang. This sentence is handwritten.]. It is O.K. with e if your cat is named after me, but how does she feel about it?

Warmly,
[Mary Daly handwritten]

I wish your continuing courage! [These last sentences are handwritten. The last three lines are right-aligned.]

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Indeed, I have not forgotten what she wrote to me above to this day. The idea of transforming “diaspora to Diaspora” is inscribed in my mind. My life, unfolded after my encounter with Mary Daly’s books, has been a journey of making my own diaspora into Diaspora of Magoist Cetaceanism.

I had my first cat named after Mary. She was my first love as a non-human companion. Here is the photo of my cat, Mary (I have not found it yet).

(To be continued)

Meet Mago Contributor, Helen Hye-Sook Hwang, Ph.D.