Who is Pearl Buck?

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1March 6, 973) is an American writer. 1932, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her novel The Good Earth. 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature. She is also the only female writer who won both Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize, and her works are the most popular American writers.

life experience

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Pearl S. Buck is a famous American writer whose mother tongue is Chinese. Real name Pearl Booker. Pearl S. Buck is the Chinese name she gave herself by imitating the famous prostitute "Sai Jinhua" in the late Qing Dynasty. She was born in West Virginia, and her parents were missionaries of Presbyterian Church in the southern United States. Come to Zhenjiang, China on 1895. She grew up there, first learned Chinese and got used to the customs in China, then her mother taught her English. It is worth mentioning that she has been writing with encouragement since she was a child.

/kloc-returned to the United States at the age of 0/7, studied psychology at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Virginia, and came to China after graduation. 19 17 married missionary John Losin Booker and engaged in missionary work. After marriage, she moved to Suxian County in northern Anhui (now Suzhou City, Anhui Province) with her husband, and her life experience became the world-famous material of The Good Earth in the future. After her mother died in the autumn of 192 1, the whole family moved to Nanjing. The Northern Expeditionary Army entered Nanking and she left China. From 192 1 to 1935, she and J. L. Buck lived in a two-story building assigned to them by Jinling University, where she taught for a long time. Here, she wrote 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature's trilogy of the earth and other novels, and first translated The Water Margin into English and published it in the West. 1934 divorced Booker; 1935, he married Richard Walsh, general manager of John Day Company and editor-in-chief of Asia magazine, and thus entered John Day Company as an editor. I will write on a farm in Pennsylvania in the future.

1934, due to the harsh conditions in China, and in order to get close to her daughter and Richard Walsh, Pearl Buck bid farewell to China and returned to China to settle down. After returning to China, she worked hard and actively participated in human rights and feminist activities in the United States. 1942, the couple founded the "East-West Association", dedicated to cultural understanding and exchange between Asia and the West. 1949 out of indignation that the adoption policy at that time discriminated against Asians and mixed-race children, she also founded the international adoption agency "Welcome Home", which helped more than 5,000 children in the following 50 years. 1964, in order to help children who are not eligible for adoption, she also established the Pearl Buck Foundation.

From 65438 to 0972, after Nixon's visit to China, she actively supported NBC's special program "See China Again" and actively applied for a visit to China. However, due to the political atmosphere at that time, her application for visiting China was rejected. 1On May 6th, 973, she died of depression in Danby, Vermont, and was buried at Green Mountain Farm in Pukasi, Pennsylvania. There is no chance to return to the land she loves in China. After her death, according to her last wish, only three Chinese characters "Pearl Buck" were engraved on the tombstone.

Guerder isaacs, an American news celebrity, said in his masterpiece "The Brand in Our Life" that the important figures in American government, news, business circles and so on he interviewed deeply were deeply influenced by China characters portrayed by Pearl Buck. What is particularly amazing is that despite the Korean War, the Vietnamese War and the Cultural Revolution, the American people's good impression of the people of China has never changed. This has to be attributed to this advanced woman's outstanding contribution to China.

Pearl S. Buck started writing in 1922, and published the novel The Good Earth in 193 1, which immediately became a best seller and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938. Pearl S. Buck wrote more than 65,438+000 literary works in her life, the most famous of which is The Good Earth. Her themes include novels, short stories, plays and children's stories. Her works are closely related to life. She tried to prove to her readers that human beings have a wide range of sexual behaviors as long as they are willing to accept them. The themes of her works include women, emotions (in a broad sense), Asia, immigration, adoption and life experiences.

Teachers who oppose missionary work

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192 1 In the second half of the year, Pearl Buck came to Nanjing with her husband Booker, and was employed by the American Church of Jinling University, and lived in a single-family building. Buck and Booker lived here (now No.5 Guan Cang Lane) before they left China in 1930s and 1940s. Barker is an agronomist who teaches courses in agricultural technology and farm management. He founded the Department of Agricultural Economics of Jinda University and served as the dean. He is regarded as an expert on China in the United States for publishing books such as China Farmer Economy. Pearl S. Buck teaches in the Foreign Languages Department of Jinling University, and has taught pedagogy, English and other courses in Southeast University and Central University. She has to prepare lessons, grade homework, take part in social work, meet people from all walks of life at home and abroad, and trim the flowers and grass in her garden. She is very busy. At Sun Yat-sen's Feng 'an ceremony, Pearl Buck made room at home for Dr. Ke Sze Sao, China's ambassador to the United States, and Dr. Taylor, who was embalmed for Sun Yat-sen's body. Xu Zhimo, Mei Lanfang, Hu Shi, Lin Yutang, Lao She and others are all guests of her family.

Pearl S. Buck's favorite course is English, because this course has a lot of room to play and can fully "show" her profound knowledge and extraordinary eloquence. Of course, some students think that her English class "involves a wide range and digresses from Wan Li" and sue the principal's office. She thinks she is "inferior" in religious classes. In her work report to the new york Missionary Society, Pearl Buck said bluntly: "I am deeply dissatisfied with the whole set of methods for teaching religious knowledge in the classroom." She believes that "it is better to teach religious knowledge in pedagogy class than in regular religious classes." This aroused the dissatisfaction of the board of directors, who rudely warned Pearl Buck: "Only the formal teaching of theology is the right way." Buck didn't give in to the pressure, and in the case of ineffective efforts, he angrily resigned from the religious teaching. In this regard, President Chen Yuguang and many foreign teachers are deeply sorry. However, in many places in China and the United States, Pearl Buck still publicly claims that she hates those "endless sermons", saying that sermons will only "stifle thoughts, confuse people and create a group of hypocrites in the church in China". She believes that "empty talk is useless, and Christians should provide real services to the people of China, such as education, medical care and health".

The first person to introduce the Water Margin to the world.

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Up to now, the Chinese classic Water Margin has been translated into many foreign languages, some of which are literally translated as "the story that happened by the water" and some are freely translated as "105 men and three women". Among all the translated works, the most accurate, wonderful and influential is its first English translation, All Men Are Brothers within the Four Seas. This English version was written by Pearl Buck.

Pearl Buck is proficient in Chinese and speaks highly of China's novels. Her thank-you speech at the Nobel Prize ceremony was titled "China's Novels". She said that China's classical novels are as irresistible as those of any other country in the world. A truly well-educated person should know such classic works as A Dream of Red Mansions and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Her words won warm applause from literary masters, because the popularity of the Water Margin translated by her in the West a few years ago made people sit up and take notice of China's novels.

Pearl S. Buck once translated Water Margin into English (1933). Pearl S. Buck translated Water Margin in the middle and late 1920s. At that time, there were several versions of Water Margin on sale in Nanjing, some of which were only seventy times, and some were as long as 120 times. Pearl S. Buck chose seventy copies of Water Margin, which she thought was the best, because at the end of the longer version, most of the heroes were wooed by the imperial court, and the idea of resisting the government ran through the seventy copies from beginning to end.

Pearl S. Buck's choice of Water Margin for translation has both artistic and political factors. The colloquial writing of Water Margin has a far-reaching influence in the history of China's novels, and Pearl Buck appreciates this writing style very much. The political content of this novel appeals to her more. She knows very well that "all the insurgents in the history of China, no matter what kind of people they belong to or what kind of beliefs they hold, like the Water Margin, and Mao Zedong is one of them". She has also heard such a joke: in Nanjing, the capital, some people spread rumors that the peasant movement is spreading a revolutionary ballad about the hardships of farmers' lives: "The scorching sun is like fire, and the seedlings in the wild fields are half withered." The farmer's heart is like soup, and the son Wang Sun shakes it. " Later, I found that it was not a "Marxist ballad", but a poem in Water Margin. Therefore, Pearl Buck thinks that the main contradiction in the novel is "the struggle between the common people and the corrupt government". In Pearl Buck's eyes, the Liangshan hero 100 list will be similar to the chivalrous man who followed Robin Hood in medieval England. They didn't mean to resist, but were forced by the environment and rose up in desperation. They are resourceful and brave citizens, who are resisting evil forces and ruthless society.

During this period, in addition to teaching, Pearl Buck also immersed herself in translating Water Margin. It took five years before and after, and finally the Water Margin was translated into more than 1000 pages of English. The original name of the book Water Margin is usually translated into "Water Margin", which refers to the place where many events took place in the book. Pearl S. Buck believes that the translation of book titles will definitely confuse western readers. She tried some titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Chivalrous Man, but they were not satisfied. Not long before its publication, she was inspired by a famous saying in The Analects of Confucius: "The Water Margin." So when new york Zhuangtai Company published the first and second volumes in 1933, it was named "Water Margin". This is the first English translation of Water Margin, which is very popular in America. The killer from China, Liangshan Hero, suddenly jumped onto the list of American authoritative "Monthly Book Club".

Born in China's The Good Earth, Nobel Prize in Literature.

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1938 The winner of Nobel Prize in Literature was a woman-the winning works were The Earth Trilogy, The Stranger and East Wind and West Wind with the theme of China. The winner of this "epic description of farmers' life in China" and "pioneering contribution to China's novels" is American Pearl Buck who once taught at Jinling University. Most of her award-winning works were created when she was teaching at Jinling University.

When Pearl Buck started her writing career, it coincided with an unusual world cultural trend. She has read articles published by Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi and others in New Youth. As for China's New Culture Movement, she thinks it is "a new force in modern China" and will release "energy that has been suppressed for many centuries". She is familiar with Chinese, knows a lot about China's classical literature, and has frequent contact with people in the New Culture Movement, which is helpful for her to judge the wind and waves around her. So, she put a typewriter under the windowsill of No.5 attic in Guan Cang Lane, facing the Purple Mountain, and fell into the idea of work.

1923, Pearl S. Buck wrote her first novel "Also in China". Since then, many works have been published. 1927 When the Northern Expeditionary Army conquered Nanjing in the spring, the society was out of control, which was really dangerous for many foreigners, so she became a "foreign refugee" and left Nanjing. When she returned to her home in Nanjing in the summer of 1928, although the whole yard became a stable and a "public toilet", she was surprised to find a wooden box in a small closet. Soldiers and robbers robbed her of most of her belongings, but left this wooden box intact, which contained the manuscript of Kelly's Biography written for her mother after her death-the title of this manuscript was changed to "Stranger" when typesetting. Buck continued to write, and soon sent an unpublished sequel to the novel A Woman in China by an American friend David Lloyd, which was published in a magazine. It is suggested that these two works should be combined into a novel called Tianfeng.

After David Lloyd received the manuscript of Tianfeng, he sent it to more than 20 publishing houses. Richard Walsh, president of new york Zhuangtai Company, had a good eye for pearls, and soon decided to publish Pearl Buck's Wind in Heaven, but named it East Wind and West Wind.

Soon, Pearl Buck's new work Wang Long was sent from Nanjing Jinling University to new york Zhuangtai Company, and Walsh enthusiastically agreed to publish it. He just found the name Wang lung hard to accept, and the title should be "exciting and romantic", so he suggested using a name like "Earth". 193 1 In the spring of, the beautifully bound Gread Earth was published, with rave reviews and soaring sales. The Good Earth suddenly became an American bestseller of 193 1 and 1932. Moreover, there will be translations in German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian soon. Therefore, Zhuangtai Company jumped from a responsible publishing house to a famous publishing company in new york. Walsh and Pearl Buck also happily reached and carried out such an agreement that he would give what Pearl Buck wrote. Therefore, literary works such as Son and Separation of Pearl Buck's The Earth Trilogy are all published by Walsh's company.

Pearl S. Buck wrote 85 works in her life, including novels, biographies, children's literature, political comments and so on. She also wrote many short stories, radio plays and literary reviews. In her early years, she wrote articles criticizing some practices of American church members abroad; The political comments in his later years mainly defended the foreign policy of the American government and attacked capitalism. She claims to love China, but she loves the old culture of feudal society in China. She is known as "an expert on China", but she wrote in the trilogy "House on Earth" (The Earth,1931; Sons,1932; Separation (1935) did not depict the true face of China society, nor did it reflect the fate of the people of China. In "Letter from Peking" (1957) and "Mrs. Liang's Three Daughters" (1969), her hostility to the new socialist China is even more obvious.