Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit (Women Writers of Color Series) by Deborah G. Plant, Praeger Publishers (Manufactured by)

Synopsis

The author of such great works as Their Eyes Were Watching God , Moses, Man of the Mountain, Jonah's Gourd Vine, Mules and Men, as well as essays, folklore, short stories, poetry, and more, Zora Neale Hurston is regarded as an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance and one of the most important and influential African American writers of the past century. Through numerous biographies, many have come to know and love Hurston, and her work has found its way into high school and college curriculums. "Lost years" have been found, birth dates discovered, and the intricacies of relationships with friends, spouses, and family members have been uncovered. Yet, there is still a part of Hurston's life that is not accounted for. Aware of the challenges she faced in terms of constant ill health, personal and professional disappointments, struggles to fund her projects, even the inability sometimes to buy groceries, one wonders: How did she do it? What did it take for Hurston to accomplish all that she did? What did it take for her to live through the struggles she experienced? What allowed her to live-not just survive, but live?

Katharine A. Webb - Library Journal

Radiant light, sun, and ancestral light are the central metaphors shining through this latest biography of Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God(1937). Plant (Africana studies, Univ. of South Florida; Every Tub Must Sit on Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston) adds new dimension to the body of biographical literature already published, earnestly portraying Hurston's vitality and spirituality, characteristics that enabled her to achieve innumerable accomplishments after a life at odds growing up in the Jim Crow South. The tenacious Hurston suffered familial abandonment, successive homelessness, intractable poverty, public humiliation, and eventual isolation. Yet she was a furnace of self-empowerment and forged alliances with such fellow notable writers as Fanny Hurst and Langston Hughes. Plant's well-documented portrayal of Hurston the woman, the anthropologist, the folklorist, the dramatist, the novelist, and the bona fide Voodoo Queen draws from and builds on established Hurston studies, the writer's 1942 autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road; and newly discovered material. Among the extras are statements from college students on Hurston's ongoing influence and extensive notes. An inspiring read recommended for all libraries.

Biography

DEBORAH G. PLANT is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at University of South Florida, author of Every Tub Must Sit On Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston.