Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography [Hardcover]

Peter Conn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0521560802 | ISBN-13: 978-0521560801 | Edition: 1St Edition

Pearl S. Buck was one of the most renowned, interesting, and controversial figures ever to influence American and Chinese cultural and literary history--and yet she remains one of the least studied, honored, or remembered. In this richly illustrated and meticulously crafted narrative, Conn recounts Buck's life in absorbing detail, tracing the parallel course of American and Chinese history. This "cultural biography" thus offers a dual portrait: of Buck, a figure greater than history cares to remember, and of the era she helped to shape.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Quick: name the only two female American novelists ever to win the Nobel Prize. Most literati can get Toni Morrison; many fewer remember that Pearl Buck won the world's most prestigious literary prize in 1938, largely on the strength of her celebrated first book, The Good Earth. Peter Conn's painstaking biography explores Buck, the famous author, crusader for women's rights, philanthropist, adviser to Presidents, expert on the Far East, and editor of Asia magazine. Pearl Buck, the woman, wife, and mother is a bit more difficult to discern. Even her most intimate relations, including her children, seemed to find her a distant figure. Pearl Buck is overdue for a critical reappraisal in the United States--perhaps this book will help launch it.

From Publishers Weekly

In this brilliantly conceived biography, Conn, an English professor at the University of Pennsylvania, sets out to reconstruct Buck's life, her extraordinary commitment to social justice and her literary achievement. To her many (primarily male) critics, Buck was an overrated storyteller whose best-selling portrayals of Chinese peasants struggling in a land on the brink of revolution in no way merited the Pulitzer or Nobel prizes. Time and the reading public seem to have agreed, as only The Good Earth survives?principally as a late-night movie classic. Born in West Virginia in 1892 to Protestant missionary parents, Pearl Sydenstricker spent almost all of her first 40 years in China. Although she was bilingual, she felt an outsider in both countries, and Conn speculates that her experiences in China's white minority led to a lifelong advocacy of interracial understanding. She went to college in the U.S., but returned to China, where she married her first husband, J. Lossing Buck, and gave birth to her only child, who suffered from phenylketonuria (PKU). Then, in 1934, faced with the Japanese invasion, civil tensions and escalating anti-foreigner sentiment, the Bucks returned to the U.S. As her literary works slipped into obscurity, Buck spent the decades until her death in 1973 devoting herself to issues of interracial conflict, immigration and the adoption of disadvantaged children, eventually establishing Welcome House, the first international, interracial adoption agency. Perhaps Buck's fortunes have finally turned, for she has been singularly lucky in her biographer. Drawing on Buck's own words and actions, Conn steers a sympathetic yet intelligently balanced course, revealing in fascinating detail the gripping life story of a compelling woman. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1St Edition edition (August 26, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521560802
• ISBN-13: 978-0521560801
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In 2011, under the pseudonym Zachary Peters, I have edited and published the posthumous novel, Who Killed Warren G. Harding? by the late and equally pseudonymous journalist, Timothy Wright.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Portrayal of an Extraordinary Woman, September 5, 2001

By 

Xoe Li Lu "xoelilu" (Sea Girt, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography (Hardcover)

Peter Conn's sweeping biography of Pearl Buck is as fascinating and provocative as Ms. Buck herself. I have been an admirer of Buck's writing for years, however I never knew the true depth of her character and achievements until I read Conn's book. Not only was the Nobel Prize winner an excellent writer and champion of Chinese causes, but she was a staunch supporter of civil and women's rights, a tireless fundraiser, and an advocate for inter-racial/international adoption. She was a fearless and often controversial speaker on behalf of the under-represented and oppressed, and made a great impact on public opinion towards racial and gender equality. Conn covers all of these diverse aspects of Pearl Buck beautifully. His book is very well researched, well organized, and well written. He presents all sides of his subject - good and bad - in an unflinching and intelligent manner. He discusses the circumstances under which Buck wrote her greatest books, her first 40 years in China, and her experiences as a prominent global literary figure. I couldn't put the book down - it was wonderful to discover that the writer whose books I have cherished for so many years had lead such a compelling and multi-faceted life. There is much more to Pearl Buck than even her impressive body of literary work suggests - and Peter Conn has done a tremendous job of revealing the many sides of this remarkable woman.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible story - highly recommended, May 22, 2001

By 

Pamela (Dubuque, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography (Paperback)

I think that Peter Conn's book is an incredible achievement. It is apparent that he has taken great pains to sort through a massive quantity of letters, published writings, and FBI files about the writer and humanitarian Pearl Buck.

Thankfully, this is NOT the sort of dirty-laundry biography, so popular now, which serves only to tear down its subject. Conn is factual and honest to the memory of a great woman, who accomplished much in her lifetime.

The book follows Pearl Buck from her missionary origin through her unexpected literary success, into her high-profile career as a spokesperson for Chinese/Eastern issues and the founding of the Welcome House (an adoption agency) and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation.

This biography inspired me to read through more Buck's novels. She was so prolific! I strongly recommend _Good Earth_ and _Sons_, as well as _Kinfolk_, and especially _The Mother_.

Conn's biography points out the factors that have led to her omission from the literary canon. Primarily, she was writing about the experience of women during a time when women's issues were dismissed as frivolous and un-literary. Also, she worked at such a great pace, that her writing is uneven, and not all of it of the great quality that earned her the Nobel prize.

I think that Peter Conn's book will remain a splendid resource about Pearl S. Buck for years to come! Good reading!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing Woman and an enlightening Book!, January 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book for a book group I am a member of and am looking forward to our discussion next week. I interrupted my reading when Conn got to his discussion of The Good Earth to read it and then continue with his book. What a revelation! I found both of these books to be excellent. The Good Earth grabs you early on and leads you on an adventure to enlightenment. These are real people - responding to real and often overwhelming circumstances as human beings - good, bad, conflicted and complex. A real learning experience! Back, to Conn's book. He does an excellent job in presenting the whole Buck, not glossing over any negatives or at least perceived negatives but just amazing you with what this woman of enormous energy, courage and integrity accomplished. She became a "celebrity" and she used this status to do good in every way she knew how! The indictment of the male literary establishment and their dismissal of Buck as a merely "popular" author is well documented and supported. I disagreed with just a few of the authors points, one in particular in which he characterizes the strongest fiction as accepting the task of making the familiar seem strange while Buck only had the gift of making the strange seem familiar. I would say good books could do either and one certainly isn't superior to the other. I had only heard about Buck, never read anything about her or by her Conn's book did a wonderful service - in introducing and illuminating one of the giants of the 20th century