Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth, reduced ethnocentrism towards China. Buck taught English Literature in China and founded the Pearl S. Buck Foundation for interracial adoption. She actively promoted cultural exchange and was involved with the civil rights movement. Buck had a turbulent personal life but never gave up on her quest to improve the world.
Pearl S. Buck is the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Born June 26, 1892 as Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker to Southern Presbyterian missionaries, she Buck spent most of her life in China, where she learned English as a second language, and she only returned to the United States when she entered college. Pearl S. Buck used her knowledge and experience of Chinese culture to create one of her best known works, The Good Earth. Her other works include East Wind: West Wind, The Exile and The Fighting Angels. Buck wrote over 100 works of literature during her career.
Pearl S. Buck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Good Earth had a significant impact on how the American public viewed China and its people during the onset of World War II. About a farmer named Wang Lung, the novel accomplished what no journalistic work could. He helped reduce the prevailing ethnocentrism and xenophobia towards the Chinese, because Wang Lung’s values were universal. The novel was the story of one man’s attempt to create a life to be proud of while trying to fulfill his duties to his parents, wife, children and society at large. Woven throughout the story were themes of failure, suffering, triumph, and happiness. Pearl S. Buck’s artwork continues to inspire and has significant value in the world of American literature.
After receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Randolph-Macon Women’s College and a Master of Arts from Cornell University, Pearl S. Buck taught English Literature at Nanjing University in Beijing, China. Working from her home in Pennsylvania, USA, for most of her life as a writer, Buck also pursued humanitarian causes. Buck created Welcome House, Inc., the first interracial adoption agency, in 1949, to improve adoption policies regarding Asian children and bi-racial children. The adoption agency is now known as the Pearl S. Buck Foundation. In addition to encouraging the adoption of interracial children, it provides funding for children in several Asian countries and holds memorabilia from Buck’s life, including her farm, Green Hills Farm.
The major themes of Buck’s novels, including feminism, emotion, and immigration, were conveyed through her description of Chinese culture, revealing that humanity knew no cultural boundaries. Pearl S. Buck also actively promoted cultural exchange, founding the East and West Association in 1942. In addition, as a trustee of Howard University and a contributor to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) magazine, she was actively involved with the civil rights movement.
Pearl S. Buck has endured quite a turbulent personal life, which included a divorce from her first husband. Her only biological child, Carol, from her first marriage, suffered from phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder that causes brain damage, and needed to be institutionalized. Buck’s second marriage, to her editor Richard J. Walsh, was a happier one, and the couple adopted six children. Whether or not she was happy, Pearl S. Buck has never given up on her personal quest to improve the world around her.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
