《中国赛珍珠论集（英文）》：
　　2. Pearl S. Buck and The Good Earth
　　However， until today， people still get used to a one-sided understanding of Lu Xun's comment on Pearl. In a letter of November 15，1933 that Lu Xun wrote to Yao Ke， saying： " Chinese things could be revealed in truth if done by Chinese people. Namely such as Mrs. Buck who has been warmly welcomed by Shanghai， herself also regards China as her motherland. However， looking at her works， they are still done in the position of American priestess who was growing in China. Therefore， she approved of The House of Exile， also no wonder， because what she felt was not more than a bit of floating form. Only Chinese do things， could the truth be remained." When many readers quoted the above sentences， just as what I hear in a meeting-had thought Pearl were an American priestess， and what she wrote about the life in China was just a bit on the surface.
　　In fact， Pearl had never truly become a priestess in her life， instead， had an unspeakable revulsion towards the priestly life， which right came from her family at the earliest.
　　As early as in 1870s， with an idealistic and humanitarian impulse， Pearl's parents accepted the delegation from Presbyterian church in US and left their hometown of West Virginia and came to remote and strange China for preaching after their new marriage and despite the opposition of their relatives. In 1892， Pearl， just 4 months old， returned with her parents to their preaching location in China-Jiangsu Zhenjiang after their vocation. Pearl later wrote two biographies about her parents， one for her mother entitled as The Exile， and the other for her father entitled as Fighting Angel. In both biographies， Pearl is full of sympathy to her mother. In poor and unstable China， her mother had gone through the sharp pain of losing 4 children in succession due to infectious disease. She devoted herself faithfully to God， and longed to be accepted. However as there was no sign of acceptance from beginning to end， her heart was filled with anguish. So Pearl's affection towards his father was very complicated. Her father， a " soldier" who took preaching as his sole mission， had forgotten his obligations in the family. However， on one side Pearl praised and reviled his father for the narrow and deep character， meanwhile， she respected him a lot， not only because of his persistent missionary spirit， but also because of his difference from the average orthodox missionaries. Her father was a scholar and obtained a conclusion after his research on Buddhism： The human civilization in Asia has already reached the peak of philosophical thought and fundamentalist doctrine. He urged his children to learn Chinese culture， treat Chinese people equally， including the nanny and the gardeners at home.
　　Pearl was influenced by her parents deeply. When she was fifteen， she lodged in Shanghai Miss Jewell's School for Girls. Because she respected Buddhism and took Chinese as friends， she was regarded as a heretic by the daughters of teachers and Orthodox missionaries. She was isolated and forced to repent and pray， which made her deeply depressed. The next year she left school. So when she graduated from Psychology Department of Randolph-Macon Woman's College of USA， facing the occupational choices， emotionally she was reluctant to become a missionary like her father. She said： "I knew I could not proselytize people and I have seen too many people who are good but not Christians." But， because her mother was seriously ill， she had to come back to her parents rationally， and made an application to Presbyterian Mission Board to be a teacher in China's schools. When she was back to the states for further study in 1925， and obtained Master of Arts in Cornell University， and obtained Honorary master's degree from Yale University later， her view on religion became more mature. She published the articles and criticized the church for the way on forcing proselytism abroad from a cultural anthropological perspective， which provoked attack from conservative priest. Later， when she could make a living on writing instead of receiving the salary from the church， she felt a bit relieved.
　　Her view towards the religion， was also brightly reflected on that American girl called Mary in her novel of A House Divided. However， she was like Mary who could not avoid the religious world introduced as a tradition from childhood all the time. Throughout her life， she maintained close ties with religious groups m the American society with Christian ideology as its pillar. In the contradiction， she and many religious reformers together had striven to guide the church to develop various soaal welfare programs from the humanitarian point of view. After her death， 7 million US Dollars as the most of her heritage have been donated as a fund to relieve Amerasians and compensate the mistakes made by the US government and
　　soldiers. Of course， this kind of philanthropic act was still considered as a priestess's thought and position， as the novel of The Good Earth has such description， such as， writing the sister from the United States of America gave more money to Chinese rickshaw puller and beggar than to her natives.
　　……

目录