A New View On Rural China

Pearl S. Buck is the first woman writer who received Nobel Prize in American history. Her masterpiece The Good Earth artistically reproduced the original face of rural China to western world, and built a bridge for the world to understand China.Nevertheless, The Good Earth did not establish its position as a classical work in American literature. In American literary circle, critics think it is only a popular fiction whose aesthetic value cannot be compared with the works of Hemingway and William Faulkner. The Chinese literary circle also criticize that the descriptions about rural life, soceity and culture in China are lopsided and unreal. At present, the biggest problem in the research of Pearl Buck is that scholars over focused on Pearl Buck's trans-cultural identity and the cultural value of her works but neglected or belittled the literary value of her works. Obviously, the researches on Pearl Buck's literary works are not adequate.This thesis combines The Good Earth with the theory of defamiliarization and explores the literary value of Pearl Buck's work. It aims to exalt the huge literary and aesthetic value of The Good Earth from a relatively fresh angle, and to discuss efficiently in the field of researching on The Good Earth. Standing in a modern western reader's position, this thesis also explores The Good Earth from the angle of appreciating a literary work. Taking text, readers, the author of the novel and culture as invisible clues and by studying the theme, characterization, and writing style of The Good Earth, this thesis aims to give readers a multi-dimensional interpretation of its literary charm and writing purpose of Pearl Buck. Through applying the method of comparition, analysis and theoretical research, the effects of defamiliarization in The Good Earth are analyzed and the oringinality of the novel is showcased. This thesis believes that the cultural value of Pearl Buck is emitted from and glorified by her literary works.