Zora Neale Hurston

1. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

2. Background Information • Wrote fiction and essays, researching black communities, and conducting field studies in anthropology • Died in poverty and obscurity • Alice Walker (The Color Purple) launched a Hurston revival in 1973 • The book remained out of print for nearly thirty years • In 1937 a white reviewer praised the novel as a “rich and racy love story, if somewhat awkward” • Hurston was severely criticized for not writing fiction in the protest tradition (Did not depict the harsher side of black life in the South)

3. Background Information • Claimed birthday, January 7, 1901, Eatonville, FL • Actually born in 1891 in Notasulga, AL • Moved to Eatonville when 1 or 2 • Zora’s dad was a carpenter and preacher • Mayor of Eatonville several times • Left home to work for traveling theater • Went back to high school in 1917 in Baltimore – entered Harvard University in 1920

4. Background Information • She was shocking to Harlem – smoked in public • Started taking classes at Barnard College, studied anthropology and folklore • First African American writer and author to describe folk culture through literature

5. Their Eyes Were Watching God • Janie is a black woman living in Florida during 1920-1935 • Hurston’s heroine Janie does more than live through her experiences. As she retells her life’s events to her friend Pheoby, Janie meditates on the meaning of the past. • Janie develops from romantic to realist to seer. • Janie is modern in her feminist sense of herself, her way of moving on when circumstances would otherwise condemn her to an inauthentic life. • A novel of self-discovery