Pearl S. Buck was born June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia, to Absalom and
Caroline Sydenstricker, two Presbyterian missionaries on leave of absence from
missionary work in China. The family returned to China when their daughter was
three
months old and settled in Chanchiang, where Buck would remain until the age of
17. As
a child, Buck gained knowledge of the Chinese language as well as traditional
folk
tales from her Chinese nurse. This bicultural, bilingual upbringing would later
influence her writing.
In 1910, Buck returned to the United States to attend college at Randolph Macon
Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. While attending college, she wrote for
her
school's newspaper and also began to independently write and publish short stories.
After graduation, Buck took on a job as a teacher's assistant at her alma mater,
but
soon returned to China to care for her mother who had fallen ill.
While in China, Buck married John Lossing Buck, an agricultural economist who was
in
China to teach American farming methods. In 1920, Buck gave birth to a daughter,
Carol, who suffered from a disease that affected her mental development. The couple
returned to the United States to seek treatment for Carol and for both to attend
graduate school at Cornell University. Prompted by the need to improve her financial
situation to help care for her daughter, Buck determined to write professionally.
Buck's first novel, East Wind: West Wind, was published
in 1930 and followed by The Good Earth in 1931. In
1938, Buck became the third American and the first woman to win the Nobel Prize
for
literature. Specifically mentioned by judges were the biographies of her mother
(The Exile) and her father (Fighting Angel). Later works include The Townsman, which was published under the pseudonym
John Sedges because Buck felt that her own name had become too closely associated
with Chinese subjects.
Bitoni, Simmons Tracy. "Pearl S. Buck."Dictionary of Literary
Biography, http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/ (accessed 15
September 2010).
Scope and Contents
The Pearl S. Buck Collection consists of manuscripts of four works by Buck and six
letters, dating from 1930 to 1945. The material is arranged in two series: Series
I.
Works (1930-1945); and Series II. Letters (1932-1940). Part of this collection
was
previously accessible through a card catalog but has been recataloged as part
of a
retrospective conversion project.
The Works series consists of four typed manuscripts (one biography, two novels, and
one short story) and one fragment arranged alphabetically by title. Each typescript,
excluding "Shanghai Scene," has handwritten
revisions and The Exile (originally American Woman) and The
Townsman (originally Monument in Median) show
evidence of a previous title.
The Letters series consists of six letters written by Buck, one to Bertrand E.
Buckmaster and five to Philip Moeller. The letters are arranged alphabetically
by
recipient.
Related Material
Additional manuscript material by Buck may be found in several other collections at
the Ransom Center: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Sanora Babb, Margaret Cousins, Fannie
Hurst, and Gloria Swanson. Photographs are included in the Literary File, Magnum
Photos, Inc., and the New York Journal-American
Collection in the Photography Collection. Clippings and other ephemera are in
the
Vertical File Collection. A comprehensive collection of Buck's books was purchased
from her agent and is held by the Ransom Center's Library.
Other papers of Pearl S. Buck can be found at Pearl S. Buck International, Princeton
University, Randolph Macon Woman's College, and West Virginian Wesleyan College.
