The Study Of Pearl S. Buck's Reception In China

Pearl S. Buck is the first American as well as Western writer to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature for depicting China. She had lived in China for as long as thirty-seven years. She is the product of both Chinese and American cultures. In the first half of her life, she was more informed of China and Chinese culture than she was of her mother country and culture. She had become famous for her novels depicting China as early as in the 1930s. Her whole life was closely connected with China. Writers of this category were rare in history. However, as an important cross-lingual and cross-culture writer, who has made great contribution to the undertaking of cultural exchanges between China and America, Pearl Buck's works were the subject of controversy among Chinese readers from the beginning of her career.The history of Pearl Buck's Reception in China is more than eighty years. From"a missionary writing about China","a vanguard of American cultural imperialism"to"a human bridge of cultural exchanges between the east and the west", she experienced many ups and downs in China. This thesis begins with a large number of historical materials. It grouped the whole history of reception into three periods: the 1930s-40s, the1950s-60s and the contemporary times. Each period has its own receipting characteristics.The second part of this thesis concentrates on the hotpoints of reception. They are criticisms on Pearl Buck's cultural ideas, ideas of writing, ideas of religion, translation, and the accuracy of her portrayal of China and Chinese in her works. This thesis makes full use of the historical materials to show the totally different criticisms of different times.The third part of this thesis is devoted to the theoretical analysis of this thesis. I will adopt key terms of reception theory—the horizon of expectations proposed by Jauss, Heidegger's"pre-understanding", Gadamer's"horizon"and"prejudice"to discuss what caused the characteristics of Pearl Buck's reception in China.The conclusion of this thesis is that the reception of Pearl S. Buck in China has changed in different social, historical and cultural contexts, the complicated transformation results from misreading of Chinese critics and readers as well as Pearl S. Buck's own limitations. Pearl S. Buck's reception in China works as a mirror, which will reflect some problems emerge during the process of China's cultural exchanges with the outside worlds. Finally the thesis calls on the contemporary Chinese readers to open up their mind and adjust their valuating coordinates and try to come closer to a true Pearl S. Buck.