The Good Earth Research Paper
FROM THE DAY of its publication in 1931, The Good Earth has been one of the most popular novels of the twentieth century. Sales figures and prizes tell part of the story. Several million copies of the book have been sold in more than sixty countries, including the United States. The book won the Pulitzer Prize and the William Dean Howells medal for fiction.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid the then-record sum of $50,000 for movie rights. The film version of the novel, released in
1937, was seen by over twenty million people around the world. One of the movie's stars, Luise Rainer, won an Academy
Award for best actress.
The influence of The Good Earth has perhaps proven even more remarkable than its popularity. For at least thirty years, well into the …show more content…
In 1917, Pearl and Lossing were married, and spent the next several years in Nanhsuchou, in rural
Anhwei province. Nanhsuchou was a barren, dusty village, home to several thousand impoverished farmers who tried to scratch a living from the thin soil. From time to time, the peasants were terrorized by local warlords.
The Anhwei years were pivotal for Pearl Buck. She learned a great deal about the daily lives of China's poorest inhabitants, and she became intimately familiar with the cruelty and hardship that marked existence in a rural society. A decade later, Nanhsuchou provided the primary setting for Buck's first stories of China, including The Good Earth.
In 1920, Pearl and Lossing left the countryside and moved to Nanking, where he had received an offer from the University of Nanking. The couple moved into a faculty house on the university grounds; Pearl helped Lossing with his research, and also taught English and religion at several local high schools and colleges.
Over the next few years, Pearl Buck suffered a succession of tragedies. She had always wanted children, and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid the then-record sum of $50,000 for movie rights. The film version of the novel, released in
1937, was seen by over twenty million people around the world. One of the movie's stars, Luise Rainer, won an Academy
Award for best actress.
The influence of The Good Earth has perhaps proven even more remarkable than its popularity. For at least thirty years, well into the …show more content…
In 1917, Pearl and Lossing were married, and spent the next several years in Nanhsuchou, in rural
Anhwei province. Nanhsuchou was a barren, dusty village, home to several thousand impoverished farmers who tried to scratch a living from the thin soil. From time to time, the peasants were terrorized by local warlords.
The Anhwei years were pivotal for Pearl Buck. She learned a great deal about the daily lives of China's poorest inhabitants, and she became intimately familiar with the cruelty and hardship that marked existence in a rural society. A decade later, Nanhsuchou provided the primary setting for Buck's first stories of China, including The Good Earth.
In 1920, Pearl and Lossing left the countryside and moved to Nanking, where he had received an offer from the University of Nanking. The couple moved into a faculty house on the university grounds; Pearl helped Lossing with his research, and also taught English and religion at several local high schools and colleges.
Over the next few years, Pearl Buck suffered a succession of tragedies. She had always wanted children, and