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A novelist "is a storyteller in a village tent, and by his stories he entices people into his tent... And to farmers he must talk of their land, and to old men he must speak of peace, and to old women he must tell of their children, and to young men and women he must speak of each other. He must be satisfied if the common people hear him gladly. At least, so I have been taught in China." -Pearl S. Buck, from her 1938 Nobel Prize Lecture FIRST EDITION of Pearl Buck's masterpiece, enormously influential in introducing to the Western world the harsh realities of peasant life in China. With first state textual points (“flees” for “fleas”, line 17, p.100; “For The John Day Publishing Company” on reverse of title page), but with top edge of text block stained green (rather than the brown of the generally accepted first state). "On 2 March 1931, Buck's novel The Good Earth was published. It immediately became an international bestseller, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, and made Pearl Buck's name a household word. The Good Earth portrays a Chinese peasant family whose husband and wife struggle with the harsh farming realities of northern China. Through laborious effort and dedication they struggle to more financially secure conditions but are never free from the various difficulties and disappointments that are the lot of humankind. By vividness of character portrayal and authenticity of setting, Buck was able to convey her material so that people the world over could identify closely with the events and characters presented... Chinese critics denounced The Good Earth for giving an unflattering portrait of Chinese life and for several alleged inaccuracies... Buck refuted these charges and demonstrated that the critics were distressed because they felt that any picture of Chinese life should focus on the intellectuals and the well educated and that the harsh realities of peasant life should be ignored" (ANB). On the strength of The Good Earth, Pearl Buck won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature. New York: The John Day Company, (1931). Octavo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Custom half-morocco box. Book near-fine, with faint owner’s signature on front pastedown; cloth exceptionally clean. Very rare unrestored dust jacket with a few chips to spine and edges; small ink mark at base of front panel. $8000. |
