Pearl S. Buck

Peter Conn (University of Pennsylvania)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Born 26 Jun 1892
Died 6 Mar 1973
Activity 1920-1963

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Biographer
Novelist

Other

Revolutionary, Activist
Story-writer

Resources

Buck's Works

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Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her parents, Absalom Sydenstricker and Carolyn Stulting Sydenstricker, had returned on home leave to the United States from China, where Absalom had been serving as a Presbyterian missionary for over a decade. A few months after her birth, the family went back to China, where Pearl would spend most of the next forty years. She grew up bilingual and, in her own later phrase, culturally bi-focal, educated in both English and Chinese. During these years, the family lived in several towns and cities along the Yangtze River.

In 1910, Pearl came to the United States to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College, a small, denominational school in Lynchburg, Virginia. Although Pearl had intended to find a career in

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1725 words

Citation: Conn, Peter. "Pearl S. Buck". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 March 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=629, accessed 23 November 2024.]