Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and someone who helped others. She is most famous for The Good Earth, a book that sold the most copies in the United States in 1931 and 1932. This book earned her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. She received this award for her detailed and grand descriptions of life in China and for writing two books that tell the stories of her missionary parents.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck lived most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang with her parents and in Nanjing with her first husband. She and her parents spent summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, and Jiujiang. During these trips, the young girl decided she wanted to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck, she worked as a Presbyterian missionary. However, she began to question the need for foreign missions. Her views caused disagreement during a debate between religious groups, which led her to resign.
After returning to the United States in 1935, Buck married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing many books. She became an activist and spoke strongly about the rights of women and racial equality. She also wrote about Chinese and Asian cultures and became well known for her work to help Asian and mixed-race children find homes through adoption.
Early life and education
Pearl Sydenstricker, originally named Comfort, was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, to Caroline Maude (Stulting) (1857–1921) and Absalom Sydenstricker. Her parents were missionaries from the Southern Presbyterian Church and married on July 8, 1880. They moved to China soon after but returned to the United States for Pearl’s birth. When Pearl was five months old, her family returned to China. They first lived in Huai’an and later moved to Zhenjiang, which was also called Chingkiang in the Chinese postal romanization system, near the city of Nanjing. During the summer, Pearl and her family spent time in Kuling. Her father built a stone villa there in 1897 and lived there until his death in 1931. It was during these summer visits to Kuling that Pearl decided to become a writer.
Pearl had siblings who lived to adulthood. Edgar Sydenstricker had an important career with the U.S. Public Health Service and later with the Milbank Memorial Fund. Grace Sydenstricker Yaukey (1899–1994) wrote books for young adults and books about Asia under the name Cornelia Spencer.
In her memoir, Pearl described living in “several worlds.” One was the “small, white, clean Presbyterian world” of her parents, and the other was the “big, loving merry not-too-clean Chinese world.” There was little communication between these two worlds. The Boxer Uprising (1899–1901) greatly affected the family. Their Chinese friends left them, and fewer Western visitors came. Pearl’s father believed no Chinese person would harm him, so he stayed in China while the rest of the family went to Shanghai for safety. A few years later, Pearl attended Miss Jewell’s School in Shanghai. She was upset by the racist attitudes of some students, many of whom could not speak Chinese. Both of her parents believed Chinese people were their equals and did not allow the word “heathen” to be used. Pearl grew up speaking two languages: her mother taught her English, her Chinese playmates taught her the local dialect, and a Chinese scholar named Mr. Kung taught her classical Chinese. She also read many books, especially the novels of Charles Dickens, which she later said she read once a year for the rest of her life.
In 1911, Pearl left China to attend Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She graduated in 1914 with honors as a Phi Beta Kappa member and was part of the Kappa Delta sorority.
Career
Although Pearl Buck did not plan to return to China or become a missionary, she applied to the Presbyterian Board when her father wrote that her mother was very sick. In 1914, Buck returned to China. She married John Lossing Buck, an agricultural economist missionary, on May 13, 1917. The couple moved to Suzhou, Anhui Province, a small town on the Huai River (not to be confused with Suzhou in Jiangsu Province). This region is described in her books The Good Earth and Sons.
From 1920 to 1933, the Bucks lived in Nanjing, on the campus of the University of Nanking, where both taught. Buck taught English literature at this private, church-run university and also at Ginling College and the National Central University. In 1920, the Bucks had a daughter, Carol, who had a health condition called phenylketonuria that caused severe developmental delays. Buck had a hysterectomy due to complications from Carol’s birth, which made it impossible for her to have more biological children. In 1921, Buck’s mother died of a tropical disease called sprue, and shortly after, her father moved in with the family. In 1924, the Bucks left China for John Buck’s year of sabbatical and returned to the United States briefly. During this time, Pearl Buck earned a master’s degree from Cornell University. In 1925, the Bucks adopted a child named Janice (later Walsh). That autumn, they returned to China.
The challenges Pearl Buck faced in the 1920s reached a peak in March 1927 during the "Nanking Incident." In a chaotic battle involving Nationalist troops, Communist forces, and warlords, several Westerners were killed. Her father insisted the family stay in Nanjing until the battle reached the city, as he had done in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. When violence began, a poor Chinese family invited them to hide in their hut while their home was looted. The family spent a day in fear and hiding before American gunboats rescued them. They traveled to Shanghai, then sailed to Japan, where they stayed for a year before returning to Nanjing. Buck later said that her time in Japan showed her that not all Japanese were militarists. After returning to Nanjing in late 1927, Buck focused on writing. Friendly relationships with Chinese writers like Xu Zhimo and Lin Yutang encouraged her to see herself as a professional writer. She wanted to achieve the goals her mother could not and needed money to support herself if she left her marriage, which had become lonely. Since the mission board could not help, she also needed money for Carol’s specialized care.
In 1929, Buck traveled to the United States to find long-term care for Carol, eventually placing her in the Vineland Training School in New Jersey. Buck served on the school’s board of trustees, where Carol lived until her death in 1992 at age 72. While in the United States, Richard J. Walsh, an editor at John Day publishers in New York, accepted her novel East Wind: West Wind. He and Buck began a relationship that led to marriage and years of professional collaboration.
Back in Nanjing, Buck wrote in the attic of her university house and completed the manuscript for The Good Earth within a year. She worked on a charity relief campaign for victims of the 1931 China floods, writing short stories about refugees. These stories were broadcast on American radio and later published in her collection The First Wife and Other Stories.
The following year, the Bucks moved to Ithaca, New York. Buck spoke at a luncheon for Presbyterian women in New York City, where she answered the question "Is There a Case for the Foreign Missionary?" with a "no." She explained that while she welcomed Chinese people sharing their faith, she believed China did not need an institutional church led by missionaries who often misunderstood the country. After her speech was published in Harper’s Magazine, Buck resigned from the Presbyterian Board. In 1934, she left China, believing she would return, while her husband stayed.
Buck divorced her husband, John, in Reno, Nevada, on June 11, 1935, and married Richard Walsh the same day. Walsh reportedly provided her with advice and support that helped her achieve her goals. The couple moved with Janice to Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and soon adopted two sons in 1936, followed by another son and daughter in 1937.
After the Communist Revolution in 1949, Buck was repeatedly denied permission to return to China. Her 1962 novel Satan Never Sleeps, which is anti-communist and religious, was adapted into a film the same year. During the Cultural Revolution, Buck was criticized as an "American cultural imperialist" for her writings about Chinese village life. She was "heartbroken" when she could not visit China with Richard Nixon in 1972, reportedly due to political interference by Jiang Qing.
In 1938, the Nobel Prize committee wrote:
"By awarding this year’s Prize to Pearl Buck for her notable works that promote human sympathy across racial boundaries and for her studies of human ideals, the Swedish Academy believes it aligns with Alfred Nobel’s vision for the future."
In her speech, Buck discussed "The Chinese Novel." She said, "I am an American by birth and ancestry, but my earliest knowledge of storytelling came from China." After discussing classic Chinese novels like Romance of the Three Kingdoms, All Men Are Brothers, and Dream of the Red Chamber, she explained that Chinese novelists aimed to speak to the people, not just create art. She said her goal was to write for farmers, old people, and young people, just as Chinese novelists did. She concluded, "I have been taught to want to write for these people. If they are reading their magazines by the millions, then I want my stories there rather than in magazines read by only a few."
Buck focused on issues often ignored by her generation. Her life and political views are described in her novels, short stories, and biographies of her parents, Fighting Angel and The Exile. She wrote about women’s rights, Asian cultures, immigration, adoption, missionary work, war, the atomic bomb (Command the Morning), and violence. Long before it was popular or safe to do so, Buck challenged the American public by raising awareness about racism, sex discrimination, and the struggles of Asian war children. She balanced careers as a wife, mother, author, editor, international spokesperson, and political activist. Buck became well known as an advocate for civil rights and women’s rights.
Final years and death
In the mid-1960s, Pearl S. Buck became more influenced by Theodore Harris, a former dance teacher who became her close friend, writing partner, and financial advisor. She relied on him for daily tasks and gave him control of Welcome House and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation. Harris, who received a lifetime salary as the foundation’s leader, caused controversy when he was accused of using foundation money improperly, taking large sums for his friends and himself, and treating staff unfairly. Buck defended Harris, saying he was "very brilliant, very high strung and artistic." Before her death, Buck transferred her foreign book royalties and personal belongings to Creativity Inc., a foundation managed by Harris.
Pearl S. Buck died of lung cancer on March 6, 1973, in Danby, Vermont. She was buried on Green Hills Farm in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. She designed her own tombstone. Her name was not written in English on the tombstone. Instead, the marker used Chinese characters 賽珍珠 (pinyin: Sài Zhēnzhū) in seal script, which represents the name "Pearl Sydenstricker." The character Sài is the Chinese version of her surname, and Zhēnzhū means "pearl" in Mandarin.
After her death, Pearl S. Buck left three different wills, leading to a legal disagreement over her estate between her financial advisor Theodore Harris, the nonprofit Pearl Buck Foundation, and her seven adopted children. After six years of legal battles, the dispute was resolved in favor of her children when both Harris and the Pearl Buck Foundation gave up their claims (the foundation received a financial settlement from Buck’s children).
Legacy
Many modern critics praised Pearl Buck's "beautiful writing," even though some said her style sometimes became too repetitive and confusing. Robert Benchley wrote a humorous version of The Good Earth that highlighted these issues. Peter Conn, who wrote a book about Buck, believes that although she received many awards, her contributions to literature are often forgotten or ignored by American cultural leaders. Kang Liao says Buck helped change how Americans saw China and its people by sharing truthful stories. In 1935, Phyllis Bentley wrote that Buck's work was impressive because of her skill, the importance of her stories, and the universal ideas she included. She said reading Buck's novels gives readers knowledge about China and lessons about life. These books increased public support for China and encouraged people to think critically about Japan's actions.
Chinese-American author Anchee Min said she cried after reading The Good Earth as an adult, even though she was not allowed to read it as a child in China during the Cultural Revolution. Min said Buck showed Chinese farmers with kindness and respect, which inspired her novel Pearl of China (2010).
In 1973, Buck was added to the National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1983, the United States Postal Service released a 5¢ stamp as part of the Great Americans series to honor her. In 1999, the National Women's History Project named her a Women's History Month Honoree.
Buck's old home at Nanjing University is now called the Pearl S. Buck Memorial House, or 賽珍珠紀念館 (Sai Zhenzhu Jinianguan) in Mandarin. It is located along the West Wall of the university's north campus.
Pearl Buck's personal papers and writings are now kept at Pearl S. Buck International and the West Virginia & Regional History Center.
Museums and historic houses
Several historical places help keep and show objects from Pearl's very diverse life: