Pearl Buck in China (46 page)

190
“I simply cannot stand it
PB, letter to EW September 17, 1933, NSC; see
TN,
309.

191
standing over her own bed
—PC, 102, 397, n. 60.

191
“open delight in the body
PC, 117.

191
“She turned… and faced him
. PB,
Other Gods,
375.

191
“For editing I am greatly indebted
Preface to JLB,
Chinese Farm Economy.

191
“The project brought boom times
Paul B. Trescott,
Jingji Xue: The History of the Introduction of Western Economic Ideas to China, 1850–1950,
Hong Kong, 2007, 171. My account of JLB’s career is based primarily on Trescott’s chapter 9, “John Lossing Buck and Agricultural Economics at Nanjing University”; on
Biology and Revolution in Twentieth Century China
by Laurence A. Schneider, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2003; and on papers given at the conference in honor of JLB, “Rural Reform and Development: Meeting New Challenges of the 21st Century,” held at Nanjing University in November 2008.

192
“She was always thinking
JLB interview, NSC.

192
“Do they know
PC, 122.

192
“or knowing had forgotten
it.”
MSW,
261.

192
“I think I would have been
PB, letter to EW, March [1931], NSC.

192
“That first novel
Andrea Lloyd interview, NSC.

193
“He could feel in his hands
The Long Love,
by PB, New York [1949], Cardinal Pocket Books, 1959, 146–47.

193
“it seemed to be about agriculture
PC, 124, 41, n.9.

193
“Words were to her
GE, 51.

193
“Nobody thought anything
Helen Snow interview, NSC.

194
the Age of Contempt
1849–1937; KL, 47–64.

194
“He is politeness himself,”
“The Little Critic,” by Lin Yutang, in
The China Critic,
Shanghai, June 11, 1931. Lin Yutang wrote this column from 1930 to 1935.

194
All night through the dark streets
GE,
138–39. The next two quotes are from
GE,
81, 82.

195
“a weird landscape
This and the next quote from
Journey to the Beginning,
by Edgar Snow, New York, 1959, 9.

195
“To educate the masses
KL, 39.

196
“It’s a change in us Lillieth Bates interview
, NSC.

196
“She was the first
Helen Snow, interview with NS, July 9, 1976, NSC.

C
HAPTER 7

197
“Her stories came from her
THi, 141.

197
“come creeping and crawling
MSW,
258.

197
“lapping at its base
THi, 64.

197
a comprehensive survey—For JLB’a flood survey
, see JLB,
Development of Agricultural Economics at the University of Nanjing,
40; reports in
CR,
November and December, 1931.

198
Hu Zhongchi—Hu’s
1933 preface to
GE,
reprinted in
Saizhenzhu Pinglunji,
ed. Guo Yingjian, Guangxi, China, 1999. I am grateful to Ye Gongping for pointing this out to me and supplying a translation.

198
“I miss him dreadfully!”
PB, letter to GY, September 3, 1931, NSC. See
ED,
171; PB, “In Memoriam,” typescript NSC; PB, letter to EW November 13, 1931, “In Remembrance,” in
CR,
62, December 1931.

198
“During the past two years
MSW,
257.

198
“We carve this tablet
—The tablet can still be seen in Zhenjiang in the house commemorating the eleventh-century scientist and sage Shen Kuo. I am grateful to Zhou Weijing and Ye Gongping for this translation.

199
She had stopped going to church
—JLB interview NSC; Rev. J. Graham, letter to Mission Board, February 4, 1933, PHS.

199
“several pages of blistering rebuke”
MSW,
262. See also PC, 128–29, 402, n. 25.

199
“Of course… it
isn’t
This and the next quote are from PB, letter to EW, May 29, 1931, NSC.

199
“sex is the devil
PB, letter to Edgar Sydenstricker, May 26 [1931], PSBI.

199
“The study of peasant
G. T. Yeh in
Chinese Social and Political Science Review,
vol. 15, no. 2, National Tsing-hua University, July 1931, 453.

200
“I was surprised
This and the next quote from Helen Snow, interview with NS, August 15, 1977, NSC.

200
“Yuan could not bear it
.
HD,
154.

200
“The story is set
—“John Lossing Buck the Person,” by Shi Sanyou, in
Unofficial History of Nanjing,
Jiangsu People’s Publishing House, Nanjing, 1985, kindly supplied and translated by Ye Gongping.

201
“It is very tense
PB, letter to EW, September 24, 1931.

201
“We crawled up
PB, letter to GY, March 14, 1932, NSC; information from Janice Walsh.

201
“a somber, wild, fierce landscape
PB cited in
ED,
173.

201
“It was in Peking
MSW,
303. The next quote is from
MSW,
311.

202
“like a common brown hen
PC, 141.

202
“I shall avoid all publicity
stuff PB, letter to EW, September 24, 1931, NSC.

203
“How can I know
ED,
177–78. For PB’s reception, see PC, 145, 406, n. 75.

203
Chinese students at Columbia
MSW,
327.

204
“I did not know what to do
THi, 308.

204
“It gave us cold chills
C. B. McAfee, letter to Merlin A. Chappe, November 7, 1932, PHS.

204
“It is too much to expect
This and the next two quotes from “The Conflict of Viewpoints,”
CR
54, September 1923, 539–44.

205
“More insidious in its pessimism
This and the next quote are from “Is There a Place for the Foreign Missionary?”
CR
58, February 1927, 100–107.

205
“I grew up among such
CR 63, July 1932, 450–52.

206
I have seen the missionary
PB,
Is There a Case for Foreign Missions?,
Methuen, UK, 1933, 8–9. The next two quotes are from 17, 20–21.

207
“ruthless, heartless, insane Rev
. Marvin M. Walters, Grace Presbyterian Church, Green Bay, Wisconsin, letter to Dr. McAfee, November 1932, PHS;
“The Dirty Mud”
from Rev. F. W. Backemeyer, First Presbyterian Church, Gary, Indiana, letter to McAfee, April 12, 1933, PHS. My account of this affair is based on extensive PHS papers.

208
“wasted on a man
BP,
109.

208
“Sympathy and understanding appreciation
NS, 128.

209
“He was an impresario
BP,
114, 152.

209
“Pearl dropped into my office
ED,
179; clipping from
New York Sun,
March 8, 1932, NSC.

209
“He presented her
Natalie Walsh Coltman interview, NSC.

210
Machen’s challenge
Correspondence, reports, and press clippings relating to this affair are in PHS.

211
“Everything she has uttered
This and the next quote are from Rev. James Graham’s report, February 4, 1933, PHS.

211
“I am only a humble
—Mrs. Guthrie, letter to Dr. Machen and Foreign Mission Board, May, 1 1933, PHS.

211
“Some of the things
Chicago Defender,
May 6, 1933, PHS;
Madras Mail,
May 1933, PHS.

212
In July the Bucks set out
—My account of the Bucks’ return to China is based on Ardron B. Lewis and JLB interviews, NSC;
MSW,
283–88;
ED,
183.

213
“He was taken by surprise
. THi, 154.

213
“I was busy, busy
JLB interview, NSC.

213
“frankly if I am to live
PB, letter to EW, September 17, 1933, NSC.

213
She gave interviews
—For PB’s Shanghai welcome, see Liu Haiping in Lipscomb et al.,
The Several Worlds of Pearl S. Buck,
67, n.27;
MSW,
287–88.

213
“Dr. Buck’s prestige
This and the following quotes are from “J. Lossing Buck,” a memoir by Ardron B. Lewis, typescript dated October 19, 1979, NSC. See also
The Breach in the Wall: A Memoir of The Old China,
by Lewis’s secretary, Enid Saunders Candlin, London, 1974, 247.

214
“unquestionably the most detailed study
Trescott,
Jingji Xue: The History of the Introduction of Western Economic Ideas to China, 1850–1950,
Hong Kong 178.

214
“My account is based on the successive rehabilitation of JLB, after decades of vilification under Mao, carried out by Lewis in his memoir, and interview, NSC; by Laurence A. Schneider in
Biology and Revolution in Twentieth Century China,
2003; by Trescott; and by papers given at the Nanjing conference 2008.

214
“It laid a solid
foundation “John Lossing Buck,” by Cui Zechun (the son of Buck’s colleague R. H. Tsui), translation by Ye Gongping.

214
“The strain was practically impossible
PB, letter to EW, September 17, 1933, NSC.

214
“Oh, so we’ve got a secretary
James Thomson interview, NSC.

215
“the publisher Walsh”
Cui Zechun, “John Lossing Buck”; JLB’s comment from NS interview, NSC.

215
pulling off her wedding ring
Pearl S. Buck: The Final Chapter,
by Beverly Rizzon, Palm Springs, California, 1989, 179–80. For this journey, see MSW, 291–307.

215
“I wanted as little as possible
MSW, 291.

216
Lin Yutang
PB, letter to Richard Walsh, October 12, 1933, PSBI. For Snows and Timperley, see Helen Snow interview, NSC.

216
“It is always better for the Chinese
For Lu Xun, see Liu Haiping in Lipscomb et al.,
The Several Worlds of Pearl S. Buck,
62–63; PC, 425, n.116; KL, 43; PB’s review in
New York Herald Tribune,
June 3, 1941.

217
“It opened many doorways
Edgar Snow,
Journey to the Beginning,
132–33; see also PB’s review of
Living China
by Edgar Snow,
Asia,
March 1937.

217
“Her beautiful gray-green eyes
Helen Snow typescript, NSC; also see Helen Snow letters and interview, NSC.

218
“The chase had… been
This and the next three quotes from
BP,
112–13.

218
Adultery meant social ostracism
Margaret Bear and Lillieth Bates interviews, NSC. See
MSW,
307; THi, 166.

219
his publishing house faced bankruptcy
See NS, 154–56.

220
“It is Carol all over again
PB, letter to EW, April 29, 1934, NSC; GY interview, NSC.

220
Pearl took the opportunity
MSW, 319–23; PB, letter to EW, April 15, 1935, NSC.

221
“not the dapper white trees
THi, 162–63; see
MSW,
312–13.

222
“She was proud
Natalie Walsh Coltman interview, NSC.

222
“I guess we questioned it
GY interview, NSC.

222
“Pearl told Richard PB, letter to
Richard Walsh, April 12, 1933, in NS, 127–28.

222
“It was a blow
MSW,
275.

223
“I didn’t write
THi, 173.

224
“Of my work I must be
PB, letter to EW, April 29, 1934, NSC.

224
“I accepted their decision
SS,
191.

224
“I conceived the idea
MSW,
287.

225
“fields big enough
HD
143.

225
“Pearl sponsored it
Helen Snow interview, NSC.

225
“I have seen him
BP,
113.

226
“a screening mind
William A. Smith, NS interview, NSC.

226
“He was the
only
one Edgar Walsh to author
.

226
“His outlines remained ghostly
FA,
9; see
ED,
191.

226
“her steadfast eye
Sons,
45.

226
Nor can I tolerate
FA,
54.

227
a posthumous edition
—For Sydenstricker’s New Testament, see
A History of Nanjing Theological Seminary, 1911–61,
by F. W. Price, privately printed, New York, 1961, 24. The cotranslator was Sydenstricker’s collaborator, Zhu Baohui.

227
“I am just
so
happy” GY, letter to PB
, February 20, 1936, NSC.

227
“All the political propaganda
KL, 129.

228
“Carie Sydenstricker was
The Presbyterian,
November 4, 1936. Mrs. Junkin’s father was Hampden Coit du Bose, head of station in the Sydenstrickers’ first posting at Suzhou. See also James Bear interview, NSC.

228
“Her mother was a very
Lillieth Bates interview, NSC.