Pearl S. Buck

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pearl Buck around 1932,
photograph by Arnold Genthe

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck ( Chinese  賽珍珠 , Pinyin Sài Zhēnzhū ; pseudonym: John Sedges ; born June 26, 1892 in Hillsboro , West Virginia , † March 6, 1973 in Danby , Vermont ) was an American writer . Her birth name Sydenstricker can be found in the frequently used spelling Pearl S. Buck .

Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 "for her rich and truly epic accounts of Chinese peasant life and for her biographical masterpieces" . Six years earlier she had already received the Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Good Earth .

Live and act

Buck was the daughter of the Presbyterian missionary Absalom Sydenstricker (1852-1931) and his wife Caroline Stulting (1857-1921). The natural scientist Edgar Sydenstricker (1881–1936) was her brother, the writer Grace Sydenstricker Yaukey, (1899–1994; pseudonym Cornelia Spencer ) her sister.

In the spring of 1892, her parents, who lived in the Chinese Empire , traveled back to the USA for the birth of their daughter Pearl. In the fall of the same year, the family returned to China and settled in Huai'an . They moved to Zhenjiang four years later . 1911 began buck at Randolph College in Lynchburg ( Virginia to study).

In 1914 Buck returned to China and began working for the Presbyterian Missionary , following the example of her parents . She met the missionary John Lossing Buck (1890–1975), whom she married in 1918. Her daughter Carol, born in 1920 († 1992), suffered from the metabolic disease phenylketonuria , which at that time had not been adequately researched and led to permanent intellectual disability. For the next two years she worked with her husband in Suzhou ( Anhui ). She then accepted a position at Nanjing University . She settled in Nanjing with her husband and taught English literature and language there until 1933 .

In 1924 Buck traveled to the USA with her husband; u. a. she received her Masters of Arts from Cornell University . Before returning to China, they adopted the girl Janice in 1925. When the civil war broke out in 1927 , the family fled to Shanghai and from there a short time later to Japan . They could not return to Nanjing until a year later.

In 1929, Buck separated from her husband and went back to the United States. On the occasion of the negotiations of her novel East Wind. West Wind she met the publisher Richard J. Walsh (1886–1960).

She returned to China for a short time, but as early as 1934 Buck settled forever in the United States. The following year she was officially divorced and married Richard J. Walsh, with whom she later settled in Pennsylvania . She was a member of the Pen and Brush Club , an organization in New York for women artists and writers.

Pearl S. Buck died on March 6, 1973 in Danby , Vermont, and was buried there.

Literary work

The confrontation with American and Far Eastern culture had a great influence on the work of the writer, who campaigned for tolerance and international understanding. One of her masterpieces is the novel The Good Earth from 1931, which was translated into German in 1933 with the title Die Gute Erde . He vividly and warmly depicts everyday rural life in China.

In her book The Child Who Never Grew (for example: The child who never grew up , published in German under the title Geliebtes unlückliches Kind in 1950 by Zsolnay Verlag), she summarized all of the painful experiences she had with her daughter in 1950. She did not mention her daughter's name in this book, nor does her husband play any role.

She has published 80 works of various literary genres and five novels under the pseudonym John Sedges.

Nobel Prize

Pearl S. Buck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938

The award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Pearl S. Buck is one of the controversial decisions of the Nobel Prize Committee. The critics of this decision considered their novels to be literarily worthless and actually to be trivial literature. The unofficial rule that has been used since then to award the Nobel Prize only to authors who have previously been nominated for it at least once is still called “Lex Buck” in the feature pages to this day. This did not detract from the author's popularity; their books are still translated and printed today.

She herself proposed Lin Yutang in 1940 and 1950 , Van Wyck Brooks in 1952 , Junichiro Tanizaki in 1958 and Robert Frost in 1961 for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Honors

Works (selection)

As Pearl S. Buck

Autobiography
  • My Several Worlds A Personal Record . Day, New York 1954.
    • German translation: Call of Life . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1976, ISBN 3-548-02275-8 (translated by Hans B. Wagenseil; former title: My life, my worlds ).
  • A bridge for passing . Day, New York 1962.
    • German translation: Refuge in the heart . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1971, ISBN 3-548-00535-7 (translated by Irene Muehlon).
Biographies
  • The Exile. Portrait of an American Mother . Reynal & Hitchcock, New York 1936 (biography of their mother)
    • German translation: The missionary's wife . Piper, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-492-23172-1 (translated by Richard Hoffmann).
  • Fighting Angel. Portrait of a Soul . Reynal & Hitchcock, New York 1936 (biography of their father)
    • German translation: The angel with the sword. God fighters in the distant land . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1980, ISBN 3-499-10167-X (translated by Richard Hoffmann).
  • The Child Who Never Grew . Day, New York 1950 (biography of her daughter Carol).
    • German translation: Beloved unhappy child. (Seven Star Paperback; Volume 187). Siebenstern-Taschenbuchverlag, Hamburg 1975, ISBN 3-7970-0148-7 (EA Hamburg 1950; translated by Fritz Pasternak).
stories
  • The First Wife and Other Stories . Methuen, London 1962 (EA New York 1933).
    • German translation: The first woman and other stories . Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-11664-3 (EA Berlin 1935; translated by Richard Hoffmann)
  • Today and Forever. Stories of China . Methuen, London 1956 (EA New York 1941). Bartholomew House, New York
    • German translation: For today and all time . Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1964 (translated by Fritz Fiedler)
    • Excerpt: The golden flower . Kaiser, Klagenfurt 1965.
    • Excerpt: The tiger is coming . Kaiser, Klagenfurt 1965.
  • Far and Near. Stories of East and West . Day, New York 1948.
    • German translation: Back to Heaven . Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-596-28336-1 (EA Stuttgart 1954; translated by Charlotte Kühner).
  • The Story Bible . Bartholomew House, New York 1971.
    • German translation: The land where milk and honey flows. The most beautiful stories in the Bible . Langen Müller, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-7844-6040-6 (EA Reinbek 1975; translated by Ulla Lippe).
Novels
  1. The Good Earth . Day, New York 1931
  2. Sons . Day, New York 1933.
  3. A House Divided . Day, New York 1935.
  • "The House of the Earth" trilogy
  1. The good earth . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-548-20705-7 (EA Berlin 1933, translated by Ernst Simon).
  2. Sons . Zsolnay, Hamburg 1958 (EA Berlin 1936, translated by Richard Hoffmann).
  3. The divided house . Zsolnay, Hamburg 1959 (EA Berlin 1936, translated by Richard Hoffmann).
  • The Young Revolutionist . Friendship Press, New York 1934.
    • German translation: The change of the young Ko-sen . Goldmann, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-442-03534-1 (former title: Der Junge Revolutionär ; EA Basel 1934; translated by Ernst Simon)
  • The Mother . Pan Books, London 1963 (EA New York 1934).
  • This proud heart . Reynal & Hitchcock, New York 1938.
    • German translation: Proud heart . Zsolnay, Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-552-03736-5 (EA Frankfurt am Main 1954, translated by Richard Hoffmann).
  • The Patriot . Day, New York 1966 (EA New York 1939).
    • German translation: Land of Hope, Land of Mourning . Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-596-28325-6 (EA 1940; translated by Walter Gerull-Kardas).
  • Other gods . Day, New York 1940.
    • German translation: How gods become . Fischer Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-596-22455-1 (EA Zurich 1942, translated by Eugen Teucher).
  • China Sky . Blakiston Books, New York 1941.
  • Dragon Seed . Eyre Methuen, London 1976, ISBN 0-413-36690-1 (EA New York 1942).
    • German translation: The Drachensaat . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-548-23886-6 (EA Frankfurt am Main 1953; translated by Ernst Reinhard).
  • The Promise . Moyer Bell, Wakefield, RI 1997, ISBN 1-55921-209-8 (EA New York 1943)
    • German translation: The pledge . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1964 (EA Bern 1945; translated by Ursula von Wiese ).
  • China Flight . Blakiston Books, Philadelphia 1943.
    • German translation: Race with death . Scientia-Verlag, Zurich 1947 (translated by Fritz Fiedler).
  • Portrait of a Marriage . Day, New York 1945.
    • German translation: A love marriage . Lingen, Cologne 1975 (EA Bern 1946; translated by Ursula von Wiese).
  • Pavilion of Women . Moyer Bell, Wakefield RI 1999, ISBN 1-55921-024-9 (EA New York 1946).
  • Peony . Moyer Bell, Wakefield RI 1996, ISBN 1-55921-168-7 (EA New York 1948).
    • German translation: Peony . Heyne, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-00436-1 (EA Bern 1949; translated by Irene Muehlon).
  • The big wave . Day, New York 1978, ISBN 0-381-99923-8 (EA New York 1948).
    • German translation: The great wave . Ravensburger Buchverlag, Ravensburg 2006, ISBN 3-473-52314-3 (former title: Die springende Flut ; translated by Luise Wasserthal-Zuccari).
  • The bondmaid . Pan Books, London 1968 (EA London 1949).
  • Kinfolk . Chivers Books, Bath 1973, ISBN 0-85594-791-8 (EA New York 1950).
    • German translation: Foreign in a distant land . Droemer Knaur, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-426-01065-8 (former title: Kinfolk, novel of a Chinese family ; translated by Renate Hertenstein).
  • The Dragonfish . 1950.
    • German translation: The dragon fish . (= Ravensburger Taschenbuch. Volume 1). Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1970, ISBN 3-473-39001-1 . (first time: Thienemanns, Stuttgart 1953; translated by Bettina Hansmann).
  • God's Men . Pocket Books, New York 1967 (EA New York 1951).
    • German translation: Creatures of God . Knaur, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-426-01033-X (EA Munich 1951; translated by Renate Hertenstein).
  • The hidden flower . Day, New York 1952.
    • German translation: The hidden flower . Knaur, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-426-01048-8 (EA Frankfurt am Main 1962; translated by Renate Hertenstein).
  • Come My Beloved . Day, New York 1953.
    • German translation: And would not find love . Goldmann, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-442-03850-2 (EA Vienna 1953; translated by Hans B. Wagenseil).
  • Imperial Woman . Day, New York 1956.
  • Letter from Beijing . Day, New York 1957.
    • German translation: Love above all . Langen Müller, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7844-2838-X (EA Munich 1957; translated by Hilde Maria Kraus).
  • Command the morning . Pocket Books, New York 1967 (EA New York 1959).
    • German translation: areas of the morning . Heyne, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-453-06151-9 (EA Bern 1974; translated by Maria Meinert).
  • Satan Never Sleeps . Pan Books, London 1961.
    • German translation: The girl from Kwangtung . Droemer, Munich 1983, ISBN 3-426-00812-2 (EA Bern 1962; translated by Maria Meinert).
  • The Living Reed . Day, New York 1963.
    • German translation: Lebendiger Bambus . Heyne, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-453-05278-1 (EA Bern 1964; translated by Margitta de Hervas).
  • Death in the Castle . Day, New York 1965.
    • German translation: Death in the castle . Heyne, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-453-00384-5 (EA Munich 1974; translated by Maria Meinert).
  • The time is noon . Pocket Books, New York 1968 (EA New York 1966).
    • German translation: The fullness of life . Heyne, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-453-00190-7 (EA Bern 1967; translated by Maria Meinert).
  • Matthew, Mark, Luke and John . Day, New York 1967.
  • New year . Day, New York 1968.
  • The Three Daughters of Madame Liang . Moyer Bell, Wakefield RI 2000, ISBN 1-55921-040-0 (New York 1969).
    • German translation: The daughters of Madame Liang . Ullstein, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-548-24578-1 (EA Bern 1969; translated by Maria Steininger and Margarete Bormann).
  • Mandala . Methuen, London 1971 (EA New York 1970).
    • German translation: Mandala . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-548-23999-4 (EA BErn 1970; translated by Marianne Perl).
  • The Goddess Abides . Pocket Books, New York 1973 (EA New York 1972).
    • German translation: Last great love . Fischer Taschenbuch-VErlag, Frankfurt am Main 1990, ISBN 3-596-28335-3 (EA Munich 1972; translated by Hansjürgen Wille and Barbara Klau).
  • All Under Heaven . Pan Books, London 1977 (EA New York 1973).
    • German translation: All under one sky . Langen Müller, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-7844-2140-7 (EA Munich 1973; translated by Hansjürgen Wille and Barbara Klau).
  • The Rainbow . Magnum Books, London 1977, ISBN 0-417-02430-4 (EA New York 1974)
    • German translation: The rainbow . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-548-20826-6 (EA Munich 1975; translated by Marianne Pasetti-Swoboda).
  • The Eternal Wonder , October 2013.
Non-fiction
  • The Chinese Novel. Nobel lecture, delivered before the Swedish Academy at Stockholm, Dec. 12, 1938 . Macmillan, London 1938.
  • Of men and women . Day, New York 1971 (EA New York 1941).
  • Talk about Russia with Marshia Scott . Day, New York 1945.
  • The man who changed China. The Story of Sun Yat-sen . Methuen, London 1955 (EA New York 1953).
  • The people of Japan . Simon & Schuster, New York 1966.
  • The Kennedy women. A personal appraisal . Day, New York 1970.
    • German translation: The women of the house K. Scherz, Bern 1970 (translated by Heidi Hänseler).
  • China, As I see it . Day, New York 1970 (edited by Theodore F. Harris).

As John Sedges

  • Voices in the House . Brown Press, London 1962 (EA New York 1953).
    • German translation: Who sows the wind . Weltbild, Augsburg 1991, ISBN 3-89350-316-1 (EA Konstanz 1956; translated by Armin Holler)
  • The Long Love . Pocket Books, New York 1959 (EA New York 1949).
    • German translation: The great love . Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-548-02675-3 (EA Frankfurt am Main 1969; translated by NO Scarpi ).
  • The Angry Wife . Severn House, London 1980, ISBN 0-7278-0690-4 (EA New York 1946).
    • German translation: Woman in anger . Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-00276-8 (EA Frankfurt am Main 1971; translated by NO Scarpi).
  • The Townsman . Pocket Books, New York 1962 (EA New York 1952).
    • German translation: And further the way leads west . Heyne, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-02301-3 (EA Baden-Baden 1952; translated by Albert Frey).
  • Bright Procession . Methuen, London 1952.
    • German translation: The way into the light . Heyne, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-453-03261-6 (EA Konstanz 1956; translated by NO Scarpi).

Film adaptations (selection)

literature

Essays
  • Anna Maria Stuby: I am nowhere completely at home and a little everywhere. In: Charlotte Kerner (Ed.): Not just Madame Curie ... women who received the Nobel Prize. New edition Beltz and Gelberg, Weinheim 1999, ISBN 3-407-80862-3 .
Fonts
Non-fiction
  • Peter Conn: Pearl S. Buck. A cultural biography . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-56080-2 .
  • Paul A. Doyle: Pearl S. Buck (Twayne's United States authors series; Volume 85). Twayne, New York 1965.
  • Xiongya Gao: Pearl S. Buck's Chinese women characters . Susquehanna University Press, Selinsgrove, Pa. 2000, ISBN 1-57591-025-X .
  • Theodore F. Harris (Ed.): Pearl S. Buck. A biography . Methuen, London 1970/72 (EA New York 1969)
  1. The biography . 1970.
  2. Her philosophy as expressed in her letters . 1972.
  • German translation (abridged): From morning to midnight. The story of my life . Habel Verlag, Darmstadt 1995, ISBN 3-87179-230-6 .
  • Karen J. Leong: The China Mystique. Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong , Mayling Soong , and the transformation of American Orientalism . University Press, Berkeley, Calif. 2005, ISBN 0-520-24422-2 .
  • Xi Lian: The Conversion of Missionaries. Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China 1907–1932 . University PRess, University Park Penn. 1997, ISBN 0-271-01606-X .
  • Kang Liao: Pearl S. Buck. A cultural bridge across the Pacific. (Contributions to the study of world literature / C; Volume 77). Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1997, ISBN 0-313-30146-8 .
  • Elizabeth Johnston Lipscomb (Ed.): The several worlds of Pearl S. Buck. Essays presented at a centennial symposium, Randolph-Macon Woman's College, March 26-28, 1992. (Contributions in women's studies; Volume 144). Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. 1994, ISBN 0-313-29152-7 .
  • Beverly E. Rizzon: Pearl S. Buck. The last chapter . ETC Publ., Palm Springs, Calif. 1989, ISBN 0-88280-120-1 .
  • Mahendra Singh: The alien earth. A study of the novels of Pearl S. Buck . Adhyayan Publ., New Delhi 2009, ISBN 978-81-8435-140-8 .
  • Hilary Spurling : Burying the bones. Pearl Buck in China . Profile Books, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-86197-828-8 .
  • Hilary Spurling: Pearl Buck in China. Journey to "The good earth" . Simon & Schuster, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-4165-4042-7 .
  • Nora Stirling: Pearl Buck. A woman in conflict . New Century Publ., Piscataway, NJ 1983, ISBN 0-8329-0261-6 .
  • Gertraude Wilhelm (Ed.): The Nobel Prize Winners for Literature. A panorama of world literature in the 20th century (Hermes Handlexikon). Econ, Düsseldorf 1983, ISBN 3-612-10017-3 .
  • Mari Yoshihara: Embracing the East. White women and American Orientalism . OUP, New York 2003, ISBN 0-19-514533-X .
Biographical novel

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Randolph College is named after the politicians John Randolph of Roanoke (1773–1833) and Nathaniel Macon (1758–1837).
  2. ↑ a b c Shawn E. Christ and Stanley Finger, Psychology Department, Washington University, St. Louis Pearl S. Buck and Phenylketonuria ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , pkuworld.com @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pkuworld.org
  3. ↑ encyclopedia team of the publisher FABrockhaus (ed.): Nobel Prizes . Chronicle of outstanding achievements. Mannheim 2001, ISBN 3-7653-0491-3 , pp. 374 .
  4. ^ Head of Publishing House John Day Company .
  5. ^ Pen + Brush History. In: penandbrush.org. October 23, 2005, accessed May 10, 2020 .
  6. ^ Archives of the Nobel Foundation , entry for Pearl Buck (Walsh)
  7. ↑ Named after the writer William Dean Howells (1837–1920).
  8. ^ Members: Pearl S. Buck. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed February 18, 2019 .

Web links

Commons : Pearl S. Buck  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Buck, Pearl S.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buck, Pearl Sydenstricker (full name); Walsh, Pearl nee Sydenstricker; Sedges, John (pseudonym); 賽珍珠 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Hillsboro , West Virginia
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1973
Place of death Danby , Vermont