Pearl Buck in China
Page 35
245 a platonic romance—On Ernest Hocking, see THi, 352–58; Rizzon, Pearl S. Buck: The Final Chapter, 128, 134. Hocking was the model for Edwin Steadly in The Goddess Abides, 1972.
245 “She loses her grip See KL, 310.
246 “I have to make all I do TPH, 189.
246 “You could see Pearl Andrea Lloyd and Sarah Rowe interviews, NSC.
247 “Mr. Harris was presenting Pearl Natalie Walsh Coltman interview, NSC.
247 “the Arthur Murray crew,” John Anderson interview, NSC. My account of Harris is based on his own books; interviews with his associates in NSC; NS, 280–86; PC, Chapter 9.
247 She also made a will NS, 334; PC, 362 and 376.
248 “She imagined herself a queen John Anderson interview, NSC.
248 “aspects of imperial grandeur.” James Thomson interview, NSC.
248 “the true ruler IW, 162.
248 “that seemed… twice as long James Thomson interview, NSC.
248 “Magnificence became her IW, 103.
249 “The Dancing Master,” See NS, 297–300, and “Crumbling Foundation,” Time (July 25, 1969).
250 “Destiny compelled her IW, 91. The next quote is from IW, 170–71.
250 “I take my prestige NS, 282.
250 She told a journalist Ross Terrill, in PC, 372.
251 “By birth and ancestry PB, Is There a Case for Foreign Missions?, London, 1933, 58.
251 “taken an attitude of distortion For the full text, see PC, 373. I am grateful to Liu Haiping for information about Zhou Enlai.
251 “They were the communications THii, viii.
251 “I could pass her Mary Graves and Natalie Walsh Coltman interviews, NSC.
252 “what I called her Rizzon, Pearl S. Buck: The Final Chapter, 173.
252 “As I remember James Thomson interview, NSC.
252 “Her spirit dwelt in loneliness IW, 221.
252 “The scene was beautiful Rizzon, Pearl S. Buck: The Final Chapter, 418.
253 “We were told a lot Bertha Reisner interview, NSC.
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
Current names of places and people with their equivalents in Pearl Buck’s time:
Anhui
Anhwei
Beijing
Peking
Guangzhou
Canton
Guling
Kuling
Hangzhou
Hangchow
Huaiyin or Huaiyuan
Tsingkiangpu
Hubei
Hupeh
Jiangsu
Kiangsu
Lao She
Lao Hsieh
Lu Xun
Lu Hsun
Nanjing
Nanking
Nanxuzhou [Suzhou]
Nanhsuchou
Sai Zhenzhu (Pearl Sydenstricker)
Sai Tseng-tsu
Shandong
Shantung
Siqian
Hsuchien
Xu Zhimo
Hsu Chih-Mo
Xuzhou
Hsuchowfu
Zhenjiang
Chinkiang
INDEX
All Men Are Brothers (Shui Hu Chuan), 4, 134
Amerasian children, 240–41, 247, 248
American Civil War, 6, 30, 36, 37–38, 40
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 138
American School, Kuling, 66
American School, Shanghai, 79, 89
Anhui, China, 61, 92, 93, 97, 113, 127
Arthur Murray Dance Studios, Jenkin-town, Pennsylvania, 247
Asia magazine, 149, 150, 215, 216, 217, 219, 238
Astor Hotel, New York: PB’s talk, 204, 206–7, 222–23
Atlantic Monthly, 107, 128, 149
Backhouse, Edmund, 246
Bailie, Dean, 95
Bates, Lilliath, 131, 139, 145, 164–65, 166, 169, 170–71, 175, 187, 196, 218, 228, 278n175
Bates, Searle, 168–69
Bavaria, 40, 221
Bear, James, 29, 130, 131, 228, 275n143
Bear, James, Snr, 58
Bear, Margaret, 130, 139, 218
Bear family, 146
Beijing:
“Boxer” rebellion, 30
the Bucks flee to, 201
capitulates to the Nationalists, 177
post-Boxer reprisals, 50
taken by rebels, 188
Beijing Opera, 201
Benchley, Robert, 208
Berlin, Sydenstricker family in, 69
Bible, the:
Absalom’s New Testament translation, 22, 43, 44, 47, 65, 227
historical credentials of, 131
Kung’s quotations from, 51
black rights, 8
Bland, J. O., 246
Book-of-the-Month Club, 188, 192, 193, 227
Bowles, Chester, 248
“Boxer” uprising (1900), 29–32, 33, 45, 46, 47, 51, 52, 158, 164, 230
Brentano’s (publishers), 176
Bucher, Adeline, 202, 212, 218
Buck, Caroline Grace (Carol; PB’s daughter), 123, 188, 202, 237
attends Vineland Training School, 182, 209, 219, 245–46
birth, 117–18
childhood, 146–49, 158
PB searches for a secure environment for her, 181–83
PB’s efforts to teach and train her, 170
phenylketonuria (PKU) condition, 146–49, 150
separation from PB, 182–83, 187, 190, 192
stigma attached to disabled children, 170–71
Buck, Clifford (PB’s brother-inlaw), 167
Buck, Janice (PB’s adopted daughter), 218, 244
appearance, 169
chosen by PB, 149
education, 186, 188, 222
forced to leave Nanjing, 202
health, 192
helps PB in her grief for Carol, 183
on PB, 238
personality, 183
Ruby Walsh looks after her, 209
Buck, John Lossing:
Absalom’s disapproval of, 92–93, 141–42, 165–66
absorption in work, 116, 213
adopts Janice, 149
agricultural missionary, 92
agricultural research, 100, 117
appearance, 93
appointed personal adviser to Morgenthau, 220
attitude to Janice, 169
background, 92–93
campaigns for better education, 100–101
Chinese Farm Economy, 98–99, 154, 161, 166, 181, 191, 270n98
criticized by PB’s friends, 166
and daughter Carol, 146, 150, 168
determined to stay in China, 164, 166
divorce from PB, 212–13, 220
establishes Department of Agricultural Economics, 138
founder of Chinese Agricultural Economics, 98–99, 181, 191, 212, 213–14, 280n191, 283n214
funding, 138
head of the College of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Nanjing, 117, 125, 137–39, 168–69
Land Utilisation in China, 98, 214, 270n98
Marian Gardiner on, 103
marriage to PB, 91, 93, 96, 113–14, 122–23, 139, 163, 166–67, 238, 243–44, 246
meets and courts PB, 92
and missionaries’ protest to Washington, 154
PB pays tribute to, 207
and PB’s writing, 129, 137
personality, 93, 113–14
plan for Chinese Church, 165
promotes Chinese autonomy, 100
sets up farming program, 108
settles in Nanxuzhou, 94–95
surveys devastated flood area, 197–98
Buck, Pearl S. (Pearl Comfort Buck; née Sydenstricker):
acts as emergency anaesthetist, 109
adoption of six children, 222, 245
adopts Janice, 149
ambition to be a novelist, 53, 54
appearance, 2, 41–42, 71–72, 81, 83, 92, 125, 139, 174–75, 202, 217–18, 236
attends Methodist
Mission School, 61, 62, 63
attitude to religion, 88, 131, 199, 210
banned from returning to China, 200, 230, 251
becomes a professional writer, 127–29
bilingual, 2, 38, 50, 51, 96, 97, 186
birth (June 26, 1892), 1, 10, 11
and Carol’s condition, 146–49, 150–51, 168, 170–71, 209
Chinese name, 2, 61, 230, 253
controversial speaker, 203–7, 210–12
courtship by Walsh, 218
death at Danby (March 6, 1973), 253
death of her father, 198
decides to remove Carol to the United States, 176
demolishes mission movement, 203–7, 210
denounced by missionaries, 210–11
divorce from Lossing, 212–13, 220
early years in Nanjing, 126
earning power, 237
education, 38, 49–51, 59–61, 64, 66–68, 71–77, 106, 164
first published writings, 25–26, 66
first returns to U.S. (1901), 33, 34–35
friendship with Marian Gardiner, 108
happiness of Chinese upbringing, 4, 13, 14–15, 22–24
health, 25
her dead siblings, 1, 10, 25–27, 145
and her mother’s death, 118–20
human rights campaigner, 8, 211–12, 228–29, 237–38, 245–46
impact of The Good Earth, 192–94, 197
influenced by Chinese novels, 4, 53, 133–35, 196
in Japan, 162–64
longs to return to United States, 164
loss of first novel, 161, 176
love for Janice, 169
major storytellers in her life, 4–8
marriage to J. L. Buck, 91, 93, 96, 113–14, 122–23, 139, 163, 166–67, 190–91, 218, 238, 243–44, 246
marriage to Walsh, 218, 221, 238, 246, 249
meets Richard Walsh, 187
as mission teacher, 81, 82–83
as mission wife, 110, 111–13
in the Nanjing Incident, 156–58, 161
Nobel Prize for literature, 9, 230
nurses her mother, 79–81, 85–86
opposes racial stereotypes, 38, 131, 203
pregnancy and birth of Carol, 116, 117–18
reading, 53–55, 62, 90–91, 133–35, 233
received by the church, 41–42
relationship with brother Edgar, 74–76
relationship with her father, 45, 49, 65–66, 144–45, 226–27
relationship with her mother, 8, 63, 86, 121–22, 123
relationship with Xu Zhimo, 173–75, 278n175
resigns from mission movement, 211
searches for a secure environment for Carol, 181–83
second return to U.S. (1910), 68–70
separation from Carol, 182–83, 187, 190, 192
settles in Nanxuzhou, 93–95, 103–7
sexual experimentation, 67, 83–84, 85
teaching Carol, 170–71
teaching in Nanjing, 152
travels with Richard Walsh across Asia, 215, 218
unable to have more children, 118
wins Howells medal, 193
wins Pulitzer Prize, 9, 202
writes “A Chinese Woman Speaks,” 139, 147, 149
writes first novel, 129, 154, 161, 176
writes The Good Earth, 185–87
and Yangtse floods (1931), 198
amnesia
Boxer rebellion, 31, 33–34
Christmas in Shanghai (1927), 165
despair over Carol, 164
famine in China (1906–7), 62
female suicide, xii
infanticide, xii, 240
leaving for U.S., 202
memory and forgetfulness, xii, 122, 240, 246, 255–56
Nanjing incident (1927), xii, 236
Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, 77, 164
school days, 38, 66
xenophobia, xii, 236
personality
aloofness, 66, 77, 238, 251
awkwardness, 208
balanced judgment, 245
decisiveness, 63, 219
defensive shell, 170
dignity, 217–18
diplomacy, 96, 169
generosity, 209–10
humor, 96–97, 239, 245
innocence, 208
integrity, 226
perception, 208, 245
sophistication, 81
strongwill, 63
stylishness, 81
vigor, 219
warmth, 226
writing habits and method, 129, 154, 186, 233, 236–37, 239, 241–42
writing
fictional self portraits, 8–9, 28, 84, 119–21, 233–34, 235–36, 241–42, 246
on sexuality, 28, 140, 176–77, 190–91, 242–43
theory and practice of bestsellers, 9, 236–37, 239–40, 251–52
works
autobiography,
The Child Who Never Grew, 182, 245–46
My Several Worlds, 89, 246
biography
The Exile, 8, 11, 18, 39, 119–20, 121–23, 141, 147, 190, 226, 227–28
The Fighting Angel, 18, 44, 49, 71, 86, 144–45, 198, 226–28
The Flesh and the Spirit, 227
collected fiction, The First Wife and Other Stories, 141
dialogues, For Spacious Skies: Journey in Dialogue, with Theodore F. Harris, 249
juvenile
The Chinese Children Next Door, xi–xii, 56–57
The Young Revolutionist, 189
non-fiction articles
“Beauty in China,” 128–29
“China and the West,” 150
“China in the Mirror of Her Fiction,” 191
“In China Too,” 127–28
“Is There a Case for Foreign Missions?,” 204–5
novels:
The Angry Wife, 72
Dragon Seed, 239
East Wind, West Wind (previously Winds of Heaven), 87, 120, 137, 176–77, 187–88; see also “A Chinese Woman Speaks”
The Good Earth (previously Wang Lung), 9, 15, 41, 62, 79, 95, 97, 99–102, 109, 124, 128, 133, 151, 154, 158, 176, 185, 187–89, 192–94, 198–202, 203, 210, 214, 224, 226, 227, 228, 238
film of, 229
stage version of, 208
The Hidden Flower, 240–41
A House Divided, 79–80, 98, 136, 153, 172, 179–80, 184, 224–25, 229, 239
Imperial Woman, 53, 241, 246, 248, 250
Kinfolk, 239
Letter from Peking, 67, 175, 177, 239
The Living Reed, 239
The Long Love, 193, 240
The Mother, 133, 151, 190, 192, 219
Other Gods, 167, 191, 235–36
The Patriot, 239
Pavilion of Women, 241, 245
Portrait of a Marriage, 76
The Promise, 239
Sons, 23, 203
This Proud Heart, 166, 233–36, 246
The Three Daughters of Mme.
Liang, 239, 241
The Time Is Noon, 28, 76, 84, 87, 119, 120–21, 123, 143, 148, 151, 168, 190, 223–24, 236
The Townsman, 17, 28, 238–39
Voices in the House, 8–9, 241–43
pamphlet, “Is There a Place for the Foreign Missionary?,” 205
plays
Desert Incident, 244
The Good Earth, 208
short stories
“A Chinese Woman Speaks”, 139–41, 147, 149, 175, 176; see also East Wind, West Wind
“The Clutch of the Ancients,” 137
“Fool’s Sacrifice,” 224
“The Frill,” 132
“Lao Wang, the Farmer,” 154, 185
“Lao Wang’s Old Cow,” 186
“Repatriated,” 177
“The Revolutionist,” 185
translation, All Men Are Brothers (Shui Hu Chuan), 189, 201, 202–3, 208
Buddhism, 48
Burma, PB and Walsh in, 215
Calvert School, Balt
imore, 60
Calvinism, 37, 69, 115, 205
Cambodia, PB and Walsh in, 215
Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland, 66
Carter, Mrs. Thomas, 113, 117
Carter, Neale, 86
Carter, Rev. Thomas, 95, 101, 107, 108, 112–13, 117
Century Magazine, 54
Cervantes, Miguel de, 90
Chang, Madame, 104–5, 108, 116–17
Chang, Pastor, 56
Chang Chung Chang, General, 155–56
Chang family, 104, 107
Chang Hsun, 101
Chefoo (Yantai), China, 28
Chen Duxiu (Ch’en Tu-hsiu), 89–90, 173
Chiang Kaishek:
blamed for torrential rain, 197
campaign to exterminate the Communists, 164, 171, 188–89
dismantles the silver standard, 213
endorses terror tactics, 160
his model army, 152
PB on, 172, 180
posters denounce him, 178
proclaims a Nationalist government, 160
propaganda and psychological warfare, 153
runs regions as a police state, 189
seizes Shanghai with Communist support, 160
in strategic retreat, 164
summer capital in Kuling, 222
Chiang Kaishek, Madame, 197–98
Chicago Defender, 212
children, rights of, 8, 229
China:
death and funeral of Sun Yatsen, 180
education and mission schools, 81–82
enforced removal of pigtails, 78, 83
famine, 61–63, 68, 128
foot binding, 4, 5, 56, 78, 107, 108, 132
funerals, 2, 59
infanticide, xi, xii, 3, 57, 111, 112
Japan invades the mainland (1937), 229
PB banned in, 200, 230, 251
PB leaves China (1934), 233
PB on peasant farmers, 99–100, 185–86, 189
PB on urban working class, 194, 230–31
PB’s China (map), x
PB transforms Western perceptions of China, 9, 131, 192–94, 196, 239
revivalist meetings after 1900 uprising, 46
Revolution (1911), 78, 80, 95, 112
slavery, xii, 38, 67–68, 112
suicide, xii, 112, 114–15
U.S. indifference to China, 193–94
warlords, 3, 89, 132, 153, 155, 188
Western stereotyping of Chinese, 193–94
China Critic, The, 213
China Famine Fund, 138
China Inland Mission, London, 69
Chinese civil war (1927–49), 214
the Bucks flee to Shanghai, 164
Chiang Kaishek establishes government in Nanjing, 177
Chiang Kaishek’s campaign to exterminate the Communists, 164, 171, 188–89