Problemet med Pearl S. Bucks problematiska position

Abstract

Positioning Pearl S. Buck: Thoughts on the Valuation and Classification of Literature The position of American Nobel Laureate Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) on the field of literary production is problematic. In her own lifetime she was an enormously successful writer and a well known intellectual, as well as a bridge between east (China) and west (US), but today she is either forgotten by literary history/critics, or known as the most infamous of all Nobel Prize winners: »the worst writer ever to receive the Prize.« This makes her a very interesting case study for an analysis which focuses on questions of valuation and classification of literature, especially from a postcolonial perspective. I argue that by studying Buck, and particularly the reasons why she is typically portrayed as such a problematic writer, we can learn about these important processes. Because Buck is a writer that crosses borders and claims multiple homes, her trajectory foregrounds the intimate relationship between literature, nation states, and identities. Her history also sheds light on the functions of the imaginary and real communities involved in the processes of valuation and classification of literature, not least the Swedish Academy.

Keywords

• Pearl S. Buck
• Nobel Prize
• valuation
• classification
• western canon
• comparative literature