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Literary Story of the Week -
On June 26, 1892, Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl Buck was
born in West Virginia to parents on furlough from their missionary work in
China. The family soon returned to China, where Buck lived for the better part
of 40 years.
As a young child she learned to speak Chinese before
English. Buck returned to the U.S. to attend college, then married an American
agriculture specialist in China. The two settled down to live in the province.
The couple later moved to Nanking to teach college.
In 1930, Buck created a literary sensation with The Good Earth. Her novel won the
Pulitzer and Nobel prizes and was translated into 30 languages. In the 1930s, The Good Earth and other novels and
stories by Buck were more widely read in Europe than those of any other
American author. However, today few of her 80 novels and books retain as much
interest as The Good Earth. She was
awarded the Noble Prize in Literature in 1938, the first female American writer
to win the award.
Buck created several charitable foundations for Asian-American
children abroad, including an adoption agency. She spoke strongly against the
internment of Japanese during World War II and wrote a letter of protest to The New York Times in 1954 that helped
change immigration policy. She received many awards for her humanitarian
activities. Buck died on March 6, 1973 in Danby, Vermont and was buried at her
estate, Green Hills Farm in Perkasie, Pennsylvania.
Check back every
Friday for a new installment of “This Week in Literary History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning
Literary Legends of the British Isles and America’s Literary Legends. Visit
Michael’s website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His books can be purchased from Amazon through the
following links:
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