East Wind: West Wind

Pearl S. Buck

Lu par Michele Fry

East Wind: West Wind, Buck's first novel (published in 1930), is set in early 20th century China. Kwei-lan, a young aristocratic maiden, narrates her emotional tale to her "sister", a friend familiar with both east and west. The book explores an ancient family culture where women have no rights, their feet are still being bound, marriages are arranged, husbands have multiple concubines, parents exert crushing control over their childrens' lives, girl babies are devalued and sometimes killed, and slaves abound. Alas, Kwei-lan's betrothed (made by arrangement before her birth and whom she has never met), has read Western books, studied Western medicine, yearns for more freedom and a modern life, and does not find his Chinese wife fulfilling -- until they have a son. Kwei-lan's brother, ignoring his parents, has moved to America and married an American girl. When he brings "the foreigner" home to meet his family in China, and they have a son - east meets west in the bloodlines. The extreme culture clash this brings on is the study of this classic book. (Summary by Michele Fry)

NOTE: Peart Buck lived in China with her American missionary parents, except for the time she spent being educated in the United States at RandolphMacon College and at Cornell University. She taught at the University of Nanking under two national régimes, and published over 70 books, articles and short stories, most of them about Chinese people, culture, and history.

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