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'''Pearl S. Buck''' (born Pearl Sydenstricker, 1892-1972) was a novelist and teacher who spent much of her life in China; she learned Chinese before English but won the [[Nobel Prize]] in literature for her English novels. Her novel ''The Good Earth'' (1931), about the travails and triumphs of Chinese peasants, won the Pulitzer Prize and became a worldwide best-seller and the basis of a popular film. Her writing is simple and vivid, full of telling details and minute observations that bring her subjects to life.  

'''Pearl S. Buck''' (born Pearl Sydenstricker, 1892-1972) was a novelist and teacher who spent much of her life in China; she learned Chinese before English but won the 1938 [[Nobel Prize]] in literature for her English novels. Her novel ''The Good Earth'' (1931), about the travails and triumphs of Chinese peasants, won the Pulitzer Prize and became a worldwide best-seller and the basis of a popular film. Her writing is simple and vivid, full of telling details and minute observations that bring her subjects to life. She published ninety books, many of them best-sellers, fifteen of them Book-of-the-Month Club selections. She wrote novels, short stories, plays, translations (from the Chinese), biography, autobiography, children's literature, essays, and poetry. Her work was translated into 145 different languages and dialects.

The Chinese scholar Kang Liao concluded in 1997, Pearl Buck:

The Chinese scholar Kang Liao concluded in 1997, Pearl Buck:

She taught English at Nanjing University from 1920 to 1933. She mingled with China's top intellectuals; the renowned romantic poet Xu Zhimo was a close friend, and some suspect the two were lovers.

She taught English at Nanjing University from 1920 to 1933. She mingled with China's top intellectuals; the renowned romantic poet Xu Zhimo was a close friend, and some suspect the two were lovers.

==Missions==

==Missions==

Although she was not herself an official missionary she served on the ''Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions'' until forced out by the actions of [[John Gresham Machen]]<ref name=Hart> Hart, D. G. "Christianity, Modern Liberalism, and J. Gresham Machen." ''[[Modern Age]]'' 1997 39(3): 234-245.</ref>  She wrote many stories that illustrate the lives, efforts, failures and achievements of some missionaries. Several of her books, especially ''The Exile,'' ''Fighting Angel'', ''Pavilion of Women'', ''Kinfolk'', and ''Peony'' helped Western readers reconsider Christian missions and understand why they never reached more than 1% of the Chinese people.  

Although she was not herself an official missionary she served on the ''Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions'' until forced out by the actions of [[John Gresham Machen]]<ref name=Hart> Hart, D. G. "Christianity, Modern Liberalism, and J. Gresham Machen." ''[[Modern Age]]'' 1997 39(3): 234-245.</ref>  She wrote many stories that illustrate the lives, efforts, failures and achievements of some missionaries. Several of her books, especially ''The Exile,'' ''Fighting Angel'', ''Pavilion of Women'', ''Kinfolk'', and ''Peony'' helped Western readers reconsider Christian missions and understand why they never reached more than 1% of the Chinese people.  

==Activities==

==Activities==

In 1936 she divorced her missionary husband of 17 years, John Lossing Buck, and married her publisher, Richard Walsh on the same day. She worked tirelessly during World War II to promote Chinese-American understanding and friendship. She was not hostile toward the Communists and by the 1950s she actively opposed American involvement in the [[Cold War]].  The Communists, however, ridiculed and attacked her for what they called her "attitude of distortion, smear, and vilification  towards the people of new China and its leaders."<ref> quoted in Sheila Melvin, "Pearl's Great Price: Pearl Buck's Chronicles of Everyday Life in China Won Her Millions of Readers and a Nobel Prize. They Also Won Her the Scorn of Highbrow Western Critics and the Venom of China's Communist Leaders. Now Her Adopted Land Is Rediscovering the Work of This Woman Once Denounced as a Cultural Enemy." ''The Wilson Quarterly'' vol 20#2 (Spring 2006) pp 24+ </ref>

In 1936 she divorced her missionary husband of 17 years, John Lossing Buck, and married her publisher, Richard Walsh on the same day.  

 

She was active in the civil rights movement and numerous liberal causes, and pushed successfully for the repeal of laws designed to exclude Chinese immigration to the U.S. She was especially active in helping children who were mentally or physically disabled, or were disadvantaged because of their race.<ref>In 1950 Buck published ''The Child Who Never Grew,'' a story about her own retarded daughter. The book was a landmark which helped to change American attitudes toward mental retardation. </ref>  She worked tirelessly during World War II to promote Chinese-American understanding and friendship. She was not hostile toward the Communists and by the 1950s she actively opposed American involvement in the [[Cold War]].  The Communists, however, ridiculed and attacked her for what they called her "attitude of distortion, smear, and vilification  towards the people of new China and its leaders."<ref> quoted in Sheila Melvin, "Pearl's Great Price: Pearl Buck's Chronicles of Everyday Life in China Won Her Millions of Readers and a Nobel Prize. They Also Won Her the Scorn of Highbrow Western Critics and the Venom of China's Communist Leaders. Now Her Adopted Land Is Rediscovering the Work of This Woman Once Denounced as a Cultural Enemy." ''The Wilson Quarterly'' vol 20#2 (Spring 2006) pp 24+ </ref>

==further reading==

==further reading==