In 1931, Pearl S. Buck published The Good Earth to much critical acclaim. The novel went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and the William Dean Howells Medal for Distinguished Fiction in 1935. In 1938, Buck won the Nobel Prize for Literature, primarily due to the influence of The Good Earth—the novel that would become the most widely known of her many works.
The Good Earth was inspired and informed by Buck's many years in China. The child of Presbyterian missionaries, Buck grew up in China, immersed in its culture and traditions, and the novel reflects this personal experience. Though it is set against a backdrop of major revolutions and cultural changes, the novel advances at the...
