Pearl S. Buck - (1892-1973)
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I. Biography
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was born on June 26, 1892 in a West Virginia home owned by her grandmother. Buck was born the fourth of seven children to Caroline and Absalom, two Presbyterian missionaries who were home
from China. The family quickly returned to there home in China after Buck's birth. Buck grew up among traditions and customs of the Chinese, and her first language became Chinese.
In 1910, Buck enrolled in Randolph-Macon Woman's College, in Lynchburg, Virginia. There she studied philosophy and was very active in the student government. Buck graduated
from Randolph-Macon in 1914. She stayed for one semester to teach psychology and then returned to China to help her sick mother. On May 13, 1917 Buck married John Lossing
Buck, an agricultural missionary. Buck was very unhappy with him and when asked why she married him she replied, "there is a time to marry" (American Lifestyle Series). In 1921,
the Bucks' had their first child, Carol. Later after the birth, Buck realized that Carol had a disease called PKU. When Buck found this, she returned to the states and placed Carol in a
full time facility in Vineland, New Jersey. From 1920-1933, the Bucks both taught and lived in Nanking on the campus of the university.
In 1923, Buck published her first work. It was an article for Atlantic Magazine called "In China Too". While Studying at Cornell University in 1925, she wrote an article called "A Chinese Woman Speaks"
which would become the drive for her first novel, East Wind, West Wind. In 1931, Pearl's second novel was published. It was called The Good Earth.
This book became the best selling book of 1931 and 1932, and won the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal in 1935. The book was also made into a major MGM film in 1937. In
1935, Buck fell in love with her publisher Richard Walsh. She divorced her husband John Lossing, and moved into an estate in Bucks County Pennsylvania with her new husband.
Buck and Richard lived at Green Hill Farm with six adopted children. In Green Hill Farms, she wrote over 100 works before she died in 1973. II. Literary Works The Good Earth
was published in 1931, The book was on the bestseller list for 21 months and earned Buck a Pulitzer Prize. The novel was translated into more than thirty languages.
The novel was also changed into a Broadway play and a motion picture. The book involves the trouble and experiences of a peasant family rising from poverty to riches. The
main character in the book is Wang Lung. Wang's sole source of stability is his land. The land is a place for his family to live and a place for him to work with his wife. In the book,
you see the lack of traditional values in his children and grandchildren because they were wealthy and did not have to bond with the land to survive. III. Works by Pearl S. Buck East Wind, West Wind (1930) IV. Pearl S. Buck Foundation The Pearl S. Buck House is a National Historic Landmark. The house is located on 520
Dublin Road in the center of Dublin, Pennsylvania. It was at that residence in 1949 that Pearl had the idea for a Welcome House Services, an international adoption agency, and in
1964 the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, an international child-assistance agency. The Peal S. Buck Foundation is online at
The Good Earth (1931)
Sons (1932)
The Mother (1933)
A House Divided (1935)
House Of Earth (1938)
This Proud Heart (1938)
The Patriot (1939)
Other Gods (1940)
China Sky (1941)
China Flight (1942)
Dragon Seed (1942)
The Promise (1943)
The Townsman (1945)
Portrait Of a Marriage (1945)
Pavilion of Women (1946)
The Angry Wife (1947)
Peony (1948)
Kinfolk (1949)
The Long Love (1949)
God's Men (1951)
Bright Procession (1952)
The Hidden Flower (1952)
Come, My Beloved (1953)
Voices In The House (1953)
Imperial Woman (1956)
Letter From Peking (1957)
Command The Morning (1959)
Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
The Living Reed (1963)
Death in the Castle (1965)
The in is Noon (1966)
The New Year (1968)
The Three Daughters of Madame Liang (1969)
Mandala (1970)
The Goddess Abides (1972)
All Under Heaven (1973)
The Rainbow (1974)
V. Pearl S. Buck on the Web Here is a list of Pearl S. Buck related web sites:
http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/Buck/biography.html
VI. Sources
http://www.kutztown.edu/faculty/reagan/buck.html
http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/Buck/biography.html
This essay was submitted by a student of Cheryl Petersohn, a teacher at Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania.