Background  Pearl Sydenstricker Buck  The Good Earth & Dragon Seed  Modernism  Philanthropist  Nobel Prize winner  Chinese & American history

Modernism  Approximately from 1930 to  After WWII  Realistic values  F Scott. Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, James Joyce  Individualism, frustration, cultural divergence

 Wang Lung, O-lan, Lotus, Uncle  Hardworking Chinese farmer, toiling for success  The richest man in town  Conflicts between materialistic desires & his own principles  value of land  Exotic Chinese culture  western societies  Love of the land, corrupting influence of the wealth, and inferior status of women  Vivid illustration of Chinese culture The Good Earth (1931)

Dragon Seed (1944)  Ling Tan, Lao San  Ordinary Chinese farmer experiences Japanese invasion  Nanking Massacre  Family destroyed, sons become guerrillas  All men are evil  Dark side of Chinese history  Outrageousness of man’s inhumanity in wartime, sense of peace  Buck’s own experience

So…  Combined the Chinese culture & western culture  Once-mysterious culture  more familiar  Evocative novels about Chinese culture  Buck: benefactress, Pulitzer & Nobel Prize winner, writer of bicultural novels

Bibliography Pictures   pHI/AAAAAAAAAvg/w6DOqO9qGpU/s400/china- america.jpg pHI/AAAAAAAAAvg/w6DOqO9qGpU/s400/china- america.jpg  pg pg  er-dragonseed.jpg er-dragonseed.jpg 