Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Bridge Across the Pacific

(Hardback)

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Pearl S. Buck's portrayal of Chinese peasants was the first literary representation, in China as well as in America, of the majority of the Chinese population. Her work changed the image of the Chinese people in the American mindultimately facilitating the 1943 repeal of the 61-year-old Chinese Exclusion Act and arousing Americans' support of the Chinese resistance against the Japanese aggression in World War II. From a multicultural point of view, Chinese scholar Kang Liao analyzes Buck's phenomenal success and the ensuing neglect of her works by American critics. Liao's insights into Buck's function as one of the few writers from an age of Eurocentrism who shed light on a new age of multiculturalism will be of interest to both students and scholars interested in race, class, and gender issues.

Reviews

Emphasizing that Buck was the first author to focus on Chinese peasants and 'strong Chinese women, ' Liao describes Buck's 'singularly important role' in shaping history by improving China's image in American eyes during the WW II era....Recommended for academic libraries, lower-division undergraduate and above.-Choice
"Emphasizing that Buck was the first author to focus on Chinese peasants and 'strong Chinese women, ' Liao describes Buck's 'singularly important role' in shaping history by improving China's image in American eyes during the WW II era....Recommended for academic libraries, lower-division undergraduate and above."-Choice

Author Bio

KANG LIAO has been Lecturer and Director of English at Beijing Normal University. He has also taught at West Virginia University, State University of New York at New Paltz, and the University of Aberdeen, U.K. His publications include over one hundred encyclopedia entries, and co-translations of Mao: A Biography, The Rise and Fall of Lin Piao, and Fast Reading: A Teaching Manual.