Anyone who has studied literature has surely discovered the beautiful prose of American author Pearl S. Buck. Her works in fiction, non-fiction, short stories and two autobiographies have been a part of a literary education for decades. The most famous of her fiction books is The Good Earth, published in 1931. It was the bestselling fiction book in the US for 1931 and 1932, winning a Pulitzer Prize the following year. However the most significant honor came in 1938, when Buck became the very first American woman awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature.
The life of Pearl S. Buck was extraordinary, even by 21st century standards. Her parents were Presbyterian missionaries based in China, but returned to West Virginia in 1892 and left again just three months after Pearl was born. They raised their daughter using English as the first language, but made sure she was tutored in Classical Chinese by local scholars as well. At 19 years of age Buck returned to the US and attended what is now Randolph College in Virginia. After graduation in 1914 she took up the same vocation as her parents, moved back to China and married an agricultural economist who shared her political and cultural views.
For the next 19 years the family lived on the campus of Nanjing University as they both had teaching positions there. Pearl taught English Literature while writing her most iconic series of books: The Good Earth, Sons, and A House Divided. In 1925 the couple returned to the US for a short while, where Pearl earned her Master's Degree at Cornell University. Unfortunately the Bucks and their two daughters had returned to Nanjing University when the infamous Nanking Incident occurred in 1927. Multiple violent forces where opposing each other all over the region. Nationalist troops, divergent warlords and various other rebels took the opportunity to murder Westerners and Chinese alike. Since Pearl and her father were missionaries, they stayed in Nanjing as long as they could.
Eventually Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops came to the city and ransacked every structure they came in contact with. The Buck family hid in the home of a poor Chinese family while soldiers looted their own home. After 24 hours of cowering under thundering carnage, American gunboats finally made their way into the Port of Nanjing. Pearl, her husband and two daughters were rescued, taken to Shanghai and eventually Japan. After spending a year in Japan, the family moved back to Nanjing. There was still much violence and cultural genocide taking place, thus in 1934 the Bucks left China for the last time.
Buck was not just a Presbyterian missionary with a love for all things Asian. She was a leader in her time on such subjects as Christian Feminism, immigration, the rights of Chinese women, female infants (who were often left to die), racism, and adoption. During the first few years of her marriage, Pearl gave birth to a daughter who suffered from a rare enzyme disorder which, if left untreated, resulted in mental retardation. She and her first husband adopted another girl as well. These activities heightened Pearl's awareness of the discrimination taking place in the adoption industry, against mixed race children and those with physical or mental afflictions. As a result, she established Welcome House, the world's first international and interracial adoption agency. Organizations were established in several nations to "publicize and eliminate injustices and prejudices suffered by children" in places like South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The legacy of Pearl S. Buck remains in her words, in her honest love and affection for the Chinese people. Her imaginings are of a style that mirrors the complex analogy of classical Chinese literature. Yet at the same time the reader experiences concrete western elements that ultimately demystify the Chinese culture. In other words, Buck presents English language readers with a real perception of the Chinese culture instead of the mythological one portrayed by the propaganda of the time. From an historical point of view, the timing of Buck's work was a great support to the anti-Japanese rhetoric of pre-World War II.
The words of Pearl S. Buck endure in their message even today. Hilary Clinton spoke at Cornell University in 2009, and upon being asked to list her personal heroines, Ms. Clinton included Buck at the top of the list. When considering the paths each have taken; speaking out for the rights of vulnerable groups and advocating equality, it is easy to see why Clinton looks at Buck as a hero.
The life of Pearl S. Buck was extraordinary, even by 21st century standards. Her parents were Presbyterian missionaries based in China, but returned to West Virginia in 1892 and left again just three months after Pearl was born. They raised their daughter using English as the first language, but made sure she was tutored in Classical Chinese by local scholars as well. At 19 years of age Buck returned to the US and attended what is now Randolph College in Virginia. After graduation in 1914 she took up the same vocation as her parents, moved back to China and married an agricultural economist who shared her political and cultural views.
For the next 19 years the family lived on the campus of Nanjing University as they both had teaching positions there. Pearl taught English Literature while writing her most iconic series of books: The Good Earth, Sons, and A House Divided. In 1925 the couple returned to the US for a short while, where Pearl earned her Master's Degree at Cornell University. Unfortunately the Bucks and their two daughters had returned to Nanjing University when the infamous Nanking Incident occurred in 1927. Multiple violent forces where opposing each other all over the region. Nationalist troops, divergent warlords and various other rebels took the opportunity to murder Westerners and Chinese alike. Since Pearl and her father were missionaries, they stayed in Nanjing as long as they could.
Eventually Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops came to the city and ransacked every structure they came in contact with. The Buck family hid in the home of a poor Chinese family while soldiers looted their own home. After 24 hours of cowering under thundering carnage, American gunboats finally made their way into the Port of Nanjing. Pearl, her husband and two daughters were rescued, taken to Shanghai and eventually Japan. After spending a year in Japan, the family moved back to Nanjing. There was still much violence and cultural genocide taking place, thus in 1934 the Bucks left China for the last time.
Buck was not just a Presbyterian missionary with a love for all things Asian. She was a leader in her time on such subjects as Christian Feminism, immigration, the rights of Chinese women, female infants (who were often left to die), racism, and adoption. During the first few years of her marriage, Pearl gave birth to a daughter who suffered from a rare enzyme disorder which, if left untreated, resulted in mental retardation. She and her first husband adopted another girl as well. These activities heightened Pearl's awareness of the discrimination taking place in the adoption industry, against mixed race children and those with physical or mental afflictions. As a result, she established Welcome House, the world's first international and interracial adoption agency. Organizations were established in several nations to "publicize and eliminate injustices and prejudices suffered by children" in places like South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The legacy of Pearl S. Buck remains in her words, in her honest love and affection for the Chinese people. Her imaginings are of a style that mirrors the complex analogy of classical Chinese literature. Yet at the same time the reader experiences concrete western elements that ultimately demystify the Chinese culture. In other words, Buck presents English language readers with a real perception of the Chinese culture instead of the mythological one portrayed by the propaganda of the time. From an historical point of view, the timing of Buck's work was a great support to the anti-Japanese rhetoric of pre-World War II.
The words of Pearl S. Buck endure in their message even today. Hilary Clinton spoke at Cornell University in 2009, and upon being asked to list her personal heroines, Ms. Clinton included Buck at the top of the list. When considering the paths each have taken; speaking out for the rights of vulnerable groups and advocating equality, it is easy to see why Clinton looks at Buck as a hero.
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