Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born on 26 June, 1892 in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her father, Absalom Sydenstricker, a West Virginian, was a preacher who was afflicted by the missionary craze of the 1880s. Pearl's mother, Carie Stulting, had met Absalom Sydenstricker, a minister of the Southern Presbyterian Church, in Hillsboro, her birthplace. The couple married in 1880, and set out for California where they would board a steamer that would take them to China. As Presbyterian missionaries and God's agents, they arrived in Hangchow, China to save the unfortunate Chinese who were ignorant about Christianity. Pearl was sixth of the seven children of Absalom and Carie. She was born in the United States during her parents' year of home leave from China. She was taken to China when she was three months old. As a precocious child, she asked many questions and read everything that came within her reach. She was educated at home by her mother and a Chinese tutor, first publishing in the Christian Observer as a girl of six. She began to write regularly for the Shanghai Mercury, an English newspaper that offered rewards for children's stories and essays. Pearl was encouraged by her mother to write every week, and later decided to become a novelist. Living in Chiangking, Pearl learned Chinese before any other language, and played with Chinese children. She grew up with Chinese customs and traditions, even having a Chinese governess. Later she said that as a child, she simultaneously belonged to two worlds-an American missionary world and a Chinese world. This explains her wish as a novelist to encourage intercultural understanding among different peoples.
After graduating, Pearl stayed in America, but sought a passage to China when she received news of her mother's illness. In China, she met John Lossing Buck, an American agricultural missionarywho arrived after the Chinese Revolution. Pearl and Lossing were married in Chiangking in 1917, and immediately moved to Ahnwei where Pearl gathered ideas for The Good Earth. Although the marriage lasted for eighteen years, it was hardly a happy one.
Pearl began writing during what she called a "fantastic era," a period of turmoil for China. She published stories in Nation, The Chinese Recorder, Asia, and Atlantic Monthly. Her first novel wasEast Wind, West Wind which was published by the John Day Company in 1930. She later divorced Lossing, and married John Day's publisher, Richard Walsh, who published everything Pearl wrote. East Wind, West Wind received favorable review, but Walsh knew that Pearl could write better. The Good Earth was published in 1931, and became the best-selling book of 1931 and 1932, bringing Pearl the Pulitzer Prize, the Noble Prize for Literature, and many other literary honors. Pearl's exquisite storytelling and the appeal of a story about land were two of the many reasons for its high success in America. The novel was translated into over thirty languages, made into a play and an MGM motion picture. Other non-fictional work and novels quickly followed The Good Earth including A House Divided, Dragon Seed, Pavilion of Women, and The Time is Noon.
Pearl S. Buck died in Danby, Vermont on 6 March, 1973.
Bibliography
Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. New York: Pocket Books, 1958.
Conn, Peter. Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Stirling, Nora. Pearl Buck: A Woman in Conflict. New Jersey: New Century Publishers, Inc. 1983.
"BookRags Book Notes on ." 6 May 2011.
As a reader, when you take the time to select a book and make the effort to read it, you do so because you want to experience something, you want to feel changed in some way and you hope to learn something from it.
Our book club members were not disappointed with our month of May's reading selection. For some of us, this was not the first time we had read Ms Buck's book and it proved just as enjoyable the second time around.
The book is written in simple yet rich language that proved easy to read. The story itself was an interesting tale of a traditional Chinese family that showcased old Chinese culture in surprising and entertaining ways.
It is obvious the author knows Chinese culture inside out. She has lived it and she brought to life the character of Wang Lung and Olan, and their mutual desire to raise a family and become respectable members of their farmland community in a way that was both raw and sensitive.
When any young couple begin their lives together they are full of hopes and dreams, however, sometimes life circumstances get in the way. Many of us live lives full of rich dreams to fulfil but when life circumstances come along it can all change. Our course may change and there can be a shift in our direction that we were not expecting. This happened to Wang Lung and Olan.
The tale of the young couple was steeped in traditional culture, which was quite unfamiliar to some of our book club members. The book offered an opportunity for us to learn about another culture, especially through some quite horrendous trials and tribulations. At times this proved a massive contrast to our own beliefs and understandings and made for some great conversation at our meeting.
Our readers discussed at length the role of women in Chinese society and most members held Olan in high esteem for her dedication to her husband, family and home. We spent quite a bit of time contrasting Wang Lung's first wife Olan to his second chosen wife, Lotus. Both wives came from slavery. Olan was a domestic slave to a prestigious family, whilst Lotus was sold into slavery as a prostitute. It was interesting that our members held more compassion for Olan. The author's character development of Olan and Lotus played an important part in determining the readers' reactions and feelings toward these two characters.
We also spent a bit of time discussing the significance and symbolism that surround the two pearls that were so important to Olan. Wang Lung initially granted Olan her wish to keep the two pearls, but in the end, he had a change of heart and eventually took them from Olan and gave them to his beautiful new wife, Lotus. This surely was an act of ultimate betrayal to Olan and it deeply saddened her, although she maintained a deep respect for her husband.
The characters spread throughout this tale were strong and Buck used them well to show traditional Chinese culture at its maximum. Times were tough and horrid and characters' traits were tested along the way, so it was clear to the reader who they felt empathy for and who didn't deserve anything at all.
Overall, this is a great tale of a simple farming family, that looked at its rise and fall, and its rise again in society. It plotted Wang Lung's growth and power as he, along with Olan work hard to ferret away their silver coins. Through hard work and teamwork, they managed to build an empire, but in the end, it was Wang Lung's greed that caused grief for his family and grew disappointment and sadness in Olan's heart.
If you haven't already read this book, our club members highly recommend you do something about it. This is a must read book.
Our members all learned many things about traditional Chinese culture and we felt changed after reading the tale.
If you choose to take up the challenge, we feel you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Until next time,
happy reading...
"BookRags Book Notes on ." 6 May 2011.
As a reader, when you take the time to select a book and make the effort to read it, you do so because you want to experience something, you want to feel changed in some way and you hope to learn something from it.
Our book club members were not disappointed with our month of May's reading selection. For some of us, this was not the first time we had read Ms Buck's book and it proved just as enjoyable the second time around.The book is written in simple yet rich language that proved easy to read. The story itself was an interesting tale of a traditional Chinese family that showcased old Chinese culture in surprising and entertaining ways.
It is obvious the author knows Chinese culture inside out. She has lived it and she brought to life the character of Wang Lung and Olan, and their mutual desire to raise a family and become respectable members of their farmland community in a way that was both raw and sensitive.
When any young couple begin their lives together they are full of hopes and dreams, however, sometimes life circumstances get in the way. Many of us live lives full of rich dreams to fulfil but when life circumstances come along it can all change. Our course may change and there can be a shift in our direction that we were not expecting. This happened to Wang Lung and Olan.
The tale of the young couple was steeped in traditional culture, which was quite unfamiliar to some of our book club members. The book offered an opportunity for us to learn about another culture, especially through some quite horrendous trials and tribulations. At times this proved a massive contrast to our own beliefs and understandings and made for some great conversation at our meeting.
Our readers discussed at length the role of women in Chinese society and most members held Olan in high esteem for her dedication to her husband, family and home. We spent quite a bit of time contrasting Wang Lung's first wife Olan to his second chosen wife, Lotus. Both wives came from slavery. Olan was a domestic slave to a prestigious family, whilst Lotus was sold into slavery as a prostitute. It was interesting that our members held more compassion for Olan. The author's character development of Olan and Lotus played an important part in determining the readers' reactions and feelings toward these two characters.
We also spent a bit of time discussing the significance and symbolism that surround the two pearls that were so important to Olan. Wang Lung initially granted Olan her wish to keep the two pearls, but in the end, he had a change of heart and eventually took them from Olan and gave them to his beautiful new wife, Lotus. This surely was an act of ultimate betrayal to Olan and it deeply saddened her, although she maintained a deep respect for her husband.
The characters spread throughout this tale were strong and Buck used them well to show traditional Chinese culture at its maximum. Times were tough and horrid and characters' traits were tested along the way, so it was clear to the reader who they felt empathy for and who didn't deserve anything at all.
Overall, this is a great tale of a simple farming family, that looked at its rise and fall, and its rise again in society. It plotted Wang Lung's growth and power as he, along with Olan work hard to ferret away their silver coins. Through hard work and teamwork, they managed to build an empire, but in the end, it was Wang Lung's greed that caused grief for his family and grew disappointment and sadness in Olan's heart.
If you haven't already read this book, our club members highly recommend you do something about it. This is a must read book.
Our members all learned many things about traditional Chinese culture and we felt changed after reading the tale.
If you choose to take up the challenge, we feel you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Until next time,
happy reading...
