Middlebrow Mission: Pearl S. Buck's American China Vanessa Künnemann

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Künnemann, Vanessa <p>Vanessa Künnemann, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany</p>, Author.

Series:

Lettre (Transcript (Firm))

Lettre

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

20th Century American Literature.

China.

Gender.

Middlebrow Studies.

Missionary Cultures.

Literature.

American Studies.

General Literature Studies.

Interculturalism.

British Studies.

Literary Studies.

Local Subjects:

20th Century American Literature.

China.

Gender.

Middlebrow Studies.

Missionary Cultures.

Literature.

American Studies.

General Literature Studies.

Interculturalism.

British Studies.

Literary Studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (285 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Künnemann, Middlebrow Mission: Pearl S. Buck's A.C.

Place of Publication:

Bielefeld transcript Verlag 2015

Language Note:

English

Biography/History:

Vanessa Künnemann (PhD) works as Assistant Professor of American Studies at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Her research interests include 19th to 21st century American Literature, Asian American Studies, Gender Studies, and Middlebrow Studies.

Summary:

Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck's engagement with (neo-)missionary cultures in the United States and China was unique. Against the backdrop of her missionary upbringing, Buck developed a fictional project which both revised and reaffirmed American foreign missionary activity in the Pacific Rim during the 20th century. Vanessa Künnemann accurately traces this project from America's number one expert on China – as Buck came to be known – from a variety of disciplinary angles, placing her work squarely in Middlebrow Studies and New American Studies.

»An important and long overdue contribution to the research on Pearl Buck and on Western missions to China in general. Künnemann manages to position herself within a densely populated academic field, taking stock of her forerunners work. The depth of the primary and secondary research will make future work on Buck much easier.«

»An important and long overdue contribution to the research on Pearl Buckand on Western missions to China in general. Künnemann manages to position herself within a densely populated academic field, taking stock of her forerunners work. The depth of the primary and secondary research will make future work on Buck much easier.«

Contents:

Frontmatter 1 Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 An Aromatic Blend of America and China: Introducing Pearl Buck's Middlebrow Mission 11 1. The Sentimental Imperialism of American Women Missionaries in China 41 2. The Exile and Fighting Angel: Pearl Buck's Gendered Critique of Missions 89 3. Pearl Buck's Coming of Age: East Wind, West Wind 133 4. Reversing the Middlebrow: The Good Earth 163 5. China/Town Hybridity and (Neo-) Missionary Nostalgia: "His Own Country" and Kinfolk 199 6. Coda: "We haven't deserted Him exactly, we just haven't known how to fit Him in." The Missionary Legacy in Pearl Buck and her Fiction 231 Works Cited 265 ARCHIVAL SOURCES 283

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9783839431085

3839431085

OCLC:

979643550