Pearl S. Buck and her association with the East

Abstract

The orient has always been a forbidden fruit for the aesthetic hunger of the western mind. Countless poets, essayists, novelists, philosophers and painters have been charmed and captivated by the exotic east. It has exercised on their imagination a kind of magic spell of the serpent woman.China, being the centre of attraction has always lured people around the world. Apart from Orientalists and Indologists, a long line of creative writers and artists sought their spiritual and aesthetic sustenance from the rich cultural heritage of China. Pearl . S. Buck, an American novelist , has recorded her experiences and views about China in her novels in an excellent manner. She has spent most of her life in China , as she was taken to China at a very young age , by her missionary parents. Since childhood, China became a part of her life, thoughts, and expression. These thoughts found expression in her autobiographical work ‘ My Several Worlds', and in the two biographies of her father and mother, ‘The Fighting Angel' and ‘The Exile' , and several other novels.The main theme of her novels was Chinese people and their life. She has also seriously digged at the foreign Christians, church and Christianity in her novels. She has dealt the issues like religion, culture, philosophy, man woman relationship, condition of women in China in a fantastic manner in her novels. My present Paper deals with many of the issues discussed elaborately in the novels of Pearl. S. Buck. This paper gives a glimpse of China under the rule of Empress Dowager , the defacto ruler of China and one of the most powerful women in Chinese history and her impression on western people, especially on Pearl. S. Buck.