[Essay Today] Mrs. Pearl Buck

A poor farmer named Wang Lung from a rural village in the Qing Dynasty marries Oran, a maidservant in the household of a wealthy man named Hwang. Oran is plain and quiet but wise. After Wang Lung marries Oran, he seems to have a streak of good luck, experiencing consecutive bountiful harvests and using the money he saves to buy the jade fields of the Hwang family. When famine strikes the village, Wang Lung leads his family to the city and pulls a rickshaw. Political turmoil causes the rich to hide their wealth and flee. Oran finds these hidden treasures. Wang Lung returns to his hometown, buys farmland, and becomes wealthy. Oran lives quietly, managing the household amid her husband's indifference. Despite enduring hunger and hardship alongside Wang Lung without complaint, swallowing her tears silently, she finds it increasingly difficult to bear when her husband takes a concubine. Shortly after their eldest son marries, she quietly passes away. Years later, Wang Lung grows old. His grown sons attempt to sell the land their father worked hard to acquire. Wang Lung appeals to his sons.

"If you start selling the land, the family is finished." "We were born from the land, and we must return to the land. If we hold onto the land, we can survive. The land must not be taken from anyone..." "The day the land is sold is the last day of the world." (Translated by Hong Sajung, Dongseo Munhwasa)

This is the plot of "The Good Earth," published in 1931 by American author Pearl Buck. Buck won the Nobel Prize in Literature for this work. Along with "Sons" (1933) and "A House Divided" (1933), it forms a trilogy. Born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia, USA, Buck spent her childhood in China due to her missionary parents. This experience vividly shaped her writing. Buck's knowledge and insight into China's land and people are among the highest among Western writers. In 1938, the Nobel Literature Committee described her work as "a richly epic portrayal of the life of Chinese farmers."

Buck's 1963 novel "The Living Reed" is set in Korea. It depicts the lives of four generations of a family from the late Joseon period to Korea's liberation in 1945. The novel is a meticulously researched and dramatically structured work that captures Korea's transitional history and culture. Upon its publication in the United States, it became a bestseller. Various media praised it as "the greatest masterpiece since 'The Good Earth'" and "a gift of affection from Buck to Korea."

Buck first visited Korea in 1960 during the autumn. While in Gyeongju, she saw a farmer carrying bundles of rice on a shoulder pole and an ox cart at sunset. She asked the farmer, "It must be hard; why don't you ride the ox cart?" The farmer replied, "Oh! How could I ride? I worked all day, but so did the ox. So we share the load and go together." Buck later recalled this as "the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in the world." She loved Korea and described it as "a jewel-like country where noble people live." She visited Korea eight more times afterward. In 1967, she established the Sosa Hope Center in Simgok-ri, Sosa-eup, Bucheon-gun, Gyeonggi Province (now Bucheon Simgok-dong). It was a welfare facility for war orphans and mixed-race children without guardians. Dr. Ilhan Yoon, founder of Yuhan Corporation, donated 33,000 square meters (10,000 pyeong) of land. The Hope Center operated until 1975. In 1999, the Pearl Buck International Korea branch was renamed the Pearl Buck Foundation.

Buck passed away today in 1973. On September 30, 2006, the Pearl Buck Memorial Hall was established on the site of the Sosa Hope Center.

Heo Jinseok, poet and professor at Korea National Sport University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.