Zora Neale Hurston Summary

Zora Neale Hurston Born January 7, 1891 Eatonville, Florida Died January 28, 1960 Fort Pierce, Florida American short story writer, autobiographer, novelist, and folklorist One of the most memorable ... Read more

Hurston, Zora Neale (1891-1960) A prolific novelist, folklorist, anthropologist, and critic, Zora Neale Hurston was one of the inspiring personalities of the Harlem Renaissance. Her diverse interests ... Read more

Biography EssayFrom the 1930s through the 1960s, Zora Neale Hurston was the most prolific and accomplished black woman writer in America. During that thirtyyear period she published seven books, many ... Read more

"Zora was funny, irreverent (she was the first to call the Harlem Renaissance literati the 'niggerati'), good-looking and sexy," wrote Alice Walker. Having been one of the most prolific African-Americ... Read more

Zora Neale Hurston achieved moderate success during the Harlem Renaissance as a short-story writer and a collector of black-American folklore. Her stories deserve attention beyond the concerns of bla... Read more

Critical Essay by Fannie Hurst [Hurst, a popular novelist in the 1920s and 1930s, employed Hurston as a secretary-companion during Hurston's first years in New York City.] Here in ["Jona... Read more

Critical Essay by Sterling Brown [The following essay was originally published in 1937.] [Zora Neale Hurston's] short stories "Drenched With Light," "Spunk" and �... Read more

Critical Essay by Percy Hutchison ["Moses: Man of the Mountain"] is the story of Moses as the Negro sees and interprets [him]…. None the less reverent in conception than that of t... Read more

Critical Essay by Philip Slomovitz [It] is exceedingly interesting to read a new biography of the Hebrew prophet [Moses] written by an American Negro. Zora Neale Hurston has already acquired fame as a... Read more

Critical Essay by Beatrice Sherman ["Dust Tracks on a Road"] is a thumping story, though it has none of the horrid earmarks of the [Horatio] Alger-type climb. Zora Neale Hurston has a co... Read more

Critical Essay by Josephine Pinckney ["Jonah's Gourd Vine"] is the product of a fortunate combination of circumstances. [Hurston] writes as a Negro understanding her people and ha... Read more

Critical Essay by Addison Gayle, Jr. Despite structural and formal defects, Jonah's Gourd Vine is most important for its depiction of the character of the black woman. Lucy is far from being co... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert E. Hemenway Folklore, Hurston said, is the art people create before they find out there is such as thing as art; it come from a folk's "first wondering contact w... Read more

Critical Essay by Lillie P. Howard There is no indication that Zora N. Hurston was ever well known—as a writer or as a person—among the masses during her lifetime. With an impressive gro... Read more

Critical Essay by Margaret Wallace "Jonah's Gourd Vine" can be called without fear of exaggeration the most vital and original novel about the American Negro that has yet been wri... Read more

Critical Essay by Franz Boas Ever since the time of Uncle Remus, Negro folk-lore has exerted a strong attraction upon the imagination of the American public. Negro tales, songs and sayings without end... Read more

Critical Essay by The Times Literary Supplement There is nothing in the title to indicate that ["Mules and Men"] is a picture of the negro mind revealed with commendable objectivity by a... Read more

In the following excerpt, originally published in 1931, Hurston explains the view of African-American expression that informs her works, observing the drama, originality, and dialect of black communic... Read more

In the following essay, Carson discusses Hurston's early “Florida” plays: Color Struck, The First One, and The Fiery Chariot. While a considerable amount of scholarly work exists ... Read more

In the following essay, Speisman surveys Hurston's career as a dramatist and her influence on American theater. On 12 April 1926, in a letter to Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston asked Hughes... Read more

In the following essay, Boyd offers an initial evaluation of Mule Bone, a plays she suggests requires further critical study. She examines the famous literary quarrel of its authors, Hurston and Langs... Read more

In the following essay, Chinn and Dunn assert that “The Gilded Six-Bits” underscores Hurston's artistry as a fiction writer, folklorist, and historian. “The Gilded Six-Bits... Read more

In the following essay, Harrison investigates the influence of anthropological concepts developed by Franz Boas and his contemporaries on the narrative strategy of Hurston and Mary Hunter Austin. As t... Read more

In the following essay, Meisenhelder analyzes the narrative techniques that Hurston utilizes to explore racial and sexual issues in Mules and Men. In an oft-quoted passage from her introduction to Mul... Read more

In the following essay, Wainwright views Hurston's female storytellers in Mules and Men as a way to subvert conventional gender roles and male authority. During the Great Depression, Zora Neale... Read more

In the following essay, Boxwell assesses Hurston's achievement as ethnographer in Mules and Men. One of the most striking photographs ever taken of an African-American woman writer can be found... Read more

In the following essay, Jordan finds similarities between Mules and Men and J. Frank Dobie's Tongues of the Monte, maintaining that because of their unconventional formats, both books offer &#x... Read more

In the following essay, Hurd offers a thematic and stylistic analysis of “Sweat.” Shortly after her 1925 arrival in New York City from Washington, D.C., and her native Eatonville, Florid... Read more

Zora Neale Hurston is a celebrated essayist, journalist, playwright, anthropologist and titan of twentieth century literature ("Zora" 8). She was born in Notasulga, Alabama on January 7,1891 (Andrews... Read more