Lary Bloom
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Friday, December 30, 2005
The (Still) Good Earth
The lists are out -- the Best and the Worst of 2005. Here's my pick for best novel of the year -- Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth.I know. The book was written in 1931, so it hardly qualifies under the usual guidelines. But we don't live our lives under the usual guidelines. And it was only in 2005 that I cracked Buck's masterpiece -- which, in my view, qualifies it for consideration for this year's Bloom list. In literature as elsewhere we have to remind ourselves to take up the classics if we are to discover what is groundbreaking today.
Who could argue that The Good Earth wasn't groundbreaking for its time, and worth reading and re-reading now? It is an epic novel, covering many decades of a farmer's life in China, from his marriage to a woman selected for him to his preparations for death. The struggles of Wang Lung and O-lan span an era of social and political change. If the novel lacks the clever narrative innovations of the best of today's novels (Kafka On The Shore, by Murakami Haruki and Saturday, by Ian McEwan, both of which employ compelling flashbacks as the narratives move forward), it matches them for intimacy and engagement. And Buck's novel is particularly timely -- as China becomes central to the world economy, and yet remains oddly mysterious to most Westerners.
The word "masterpiece" is trotted out often. My definition requires that the work -- a book, play, etc. -- must clearly reflect the total immersion and passions of the artist. It's as if the artist was born to do such work, and never considered for a moment its commercial implications. This clearly is the impression here, an impression verified by the facts: When Buck wrote this, she did it in Chinese, and then translated it into English, to make it as authentic as possible. There are novels, like this one, in which every word seems to have a purpose, and there is nothing for effect only. Oswald Wynd's The Ginger Tree is another one of those (the only book Wynd ever published, but a gem). And surely Buck's novel is another.
If you haven't recently read The Good Earth, or (like me) shamefully haven't read it at all, pick up a copy at the library. You will see what I mean.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 4:39 AM
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