The first wife and other stories

by Pearl S. Buck

With a preface by Richard J. Walsh

Old and new:
- The first wife
- The old mother
- The frill
- The quarrel
- Repatriated
- The rainy day

Revolution:
- Wang Lung
- The communist
- Father Andrea
- The new road

Flood
- Barren spring
- The refugees
- Fathers and mothers
- The good river

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Historical Fiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1933

About the author

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for The Good Earth, the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces", two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.
Buck was born in West Virginia, but in October 1892, her parents took their 4-month-old baby to China. As the daughter of missionaries and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang, with her parents, and in Nanjing, with her first husband. She and her parents spent their summers in a villa in Kuling, Mount Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. She graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, then returned to China. From 1914 to 1932, after marrying John Lossing Buck she served as a Presbyterian missionary, but she came to doubt the need for foreign missions. Her views became controversial during the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, leading to her resignation. After returning to the United States in 1935, she married the publisher Richard J. Walsh and continued writing prolifically. She became an activist and prominent advocate of the rights of women and racial equality, and wrote widely on Chinese and Asian cultures, becoming particularly well known for her efforts on behalf of Asian and mixed-race adoption.

Reviews

[Susana Terciado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encanta esta escritora, con cada uno de sus libros me remueve por dentro y este no ha sido distinto. Un libro cortito pero con un gran contenido.
Buck describe como nadie la sociedad y costumbres orientales y como la mujer vivía sometida durante toda su vida a los deseos del hombre.
Un libro muy, muy recomendable!

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buck certainly writes compelling stories that describe this period in China's history. She gives us an insight into the cultural turmoil of her citizens that were uprooted and displaced when dynasty was overthrown and revolution occured. She doesn't spare your sensibilities.

[Josee · Rating 4 out of 5]

If u overlook the racist remarks and undertones in here (the book was written in the 1930’s) you will find some great well written stories about the core of humanity ! I Highly recommend this collection of short stories 🖤

[Morag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small vignettes of life in China in the first half of the 20th Century with well-drawn characters

[Hko · Rating 3 out of 5]

mooie sfeertekeningen vanuit een cultuur en kijk op de relatie man-vrouw die niet de onze (of in ieder geval niet door mij gekend) is

[Iara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma escrita clara e sensivel , faz com que se sinta na pele.dos personagens. Triste, retratando o inicio do seculo passado na China em transformação.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die im Buch enthaltenen Novellen sind zwischen 4 und 75 Seiten lang und erzählen eindrucksvoll, Geschichten von Chinesen in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts (wenn nicht, noch früher). Stellenweise fand ich die Geschichten leider etwas langatmig und oftmals konnte ich nicht wirklich nachvollziehen, warum die Protagonisten so handeln konnten wie sie es taten.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

Old and new:
The first wife--
The old mother--3
The frill--2
The quarrel--2
Repatriated--
The rainy day --

Revolution:
Wang Lung--
The communist--
Father Andrea--3
The new road --

Flood:
Barren spring--
The refugees--
Fathers and mothers--
The good river--