Fighting angel (1936)

This is a biography of Buck's father who went to China as a missionary in the late 1800's--soon after the US Civil War-- and spent over fifty years there. This biography was specifically mentioned in the contributing works when Buck won her Nobel prize.

As always, Buck's descriptions of China, Chinese history, the Chinese people, and in this case, Buck's father are wonderfully evocative.

But the man himself, Andrew, was so on fire for his somewhat narrow religious doctrine that it burned out any room for anything else in his life. In his seventies, he wrote a short 25 page autobiography. He failed to mention his marriage, or any of his children; either those that lived or those that died.

He may have accomplished great things as a missionary, and was beloved by the Chinese people, but he was completely detached emotionally from his family.

As Buck says: "Andrew was somebody in a dream, a soul possessed, to whom life and the human heart had no importance. He never lived on earth. ....She (Buck wrote about herself in the third person in this book) did not blame Andrew, not really--but she felt herself fatherless. In after years she grew closer to him, as close as any human could, and came to understand and value him, to know why he was as he was, both great and small. But all that later knowlege cannot quite wipe away the bereavement of that hour. For Andrew's children were bereaved in what they never had, in what he could not give them, because he had given everything in him to God." (p135). ( )

I really enjoyed this short biography of Pearl S. Buck's father, who worked as a missionary in China most of his life. It was a little strange because it was written extremely objectively, as if the author needed to put a lot of distance between herself and her subject. She refers to herself only as "Carie's daughter" although sometimes the pronoun "I' sneaks in as well.

The missionary's family lived in a remote part of China during famines, floods, and wars, including the Boxer rebellion and both revolutions. The picture of what China and the Chinese people were like at that time is clear and lovely, tinged with not a little nostalgia.

Andrew, the missionary, travels the countryside, converting the Chinese and setting up churches. He is absolutely certain that this is the right thing to do and he never questions his calling or that the Chinese may not wish to be converted. After many years of working with them, he becomes a respected elder and they call him "Old Teacher." This is a fascinating portrait of a man with many faults who never wavers from what he believes is right. ( )