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Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born on June 26, 1892. Pearl’s parents, Absalom and Caroline Sydenstricker, were Presbyterian missionaries on leave from China living in Hillsboro, West Virginia when Pearl was born. When Pearl was still an infant, they returned to Chinkiang on the Yangtse River in China. Pearl studied in the mornings with her mother and worked with a Chinese tutor during the afternoons. When Pearl was 17, she returned to the United States. She attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia graduating in 1914. Her mother was in poor health and so Pearl returned to China.
Pearl met John Lossing Buck and they were married in 1917. John was an American agricultural missionary living in China. Together they traveled to North China and then later moved to Nanking, where Pearl taught English Literature at the Southeastern University and University of Nanking.
In 1921, they had their first child, Carol. Carol was born with PKU and tested extremely retarded. Pearl had a hysterectomy because of a uterine tumor found during the delivery of Carol. Pearl placed her child in an institution in New Jersey. They adopted a child in 1925; a baby girl named Janice. The Bucks had many problems in their marriage and soon were divorced.
In 1934, Pearl moved to Pennsylvania to be close to Carol. She bought a farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The farmhouse was an old one called Green Hills Farm, now listed on the Historical Register.
In 1935, she married Richard Walsh and they adopted six children.
In 1929 Pearl’s first book was published, “East Wind, West Wind.” Following that book came “The Good Earth” published in 1931. Two sequels to “The Good Earth” came out in 1932 and 1936, “Sons” and “A House Divided.” “The Exile” published in 1936 and “Fighting Angel” published in 1936 were biographies of her mother and father. These two books covered the life of a missionary in a foreign country. Pearl’s most popular book, “The Good Earth” is an account of Chinese peasant life and the hardships of the Chinese people. “The Good Earth” won Pearl the Pulitzer Prize and was a best seller for almost two years. “The Good Earth” translated into thirty plus languages and made into a motion picture was also the reason Pearl Buck won the Nobel Price for Literature in 1938.
Pearl Buck also believed that all men are brothers. She strongly believed that all people were equal. “The Enemy” written by Pearl Buck and published in Harper’s Magazine in 1942 confirms her belief in equality for all people.
“My Several Worlds” published in 1953 is Pearl’s autobiography containing many rich memories of friends, family, places and happenings from her life. In this autobiography, one such person she recalls with fondness is Mr. Kung. Mr. Kung is a Chinese scholar who taught her in the literary arts as a young girl. Pearl hung on to the standards taught by Mr. Kung.
Pearl Buck has written over forty volumes of fiction and nonfiction works. Several of her novels were made into films, including "The Good Earth," "Dragon Seed," "China Sky" and "The Devil Never Sleeps." She died two months before her 81st birthday in March of 1973. Pearl is buried at the Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Resources:
Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography
World Authors 1900-1950
Pearl S. Buck: A Biography
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