Most Popular Books by Zora Neale Hurston

A story of love and community, written by the hand of Zora Neale Hurston, one of the 20th century’s greatest authors, and a woman who truly understands her characters’ motivations. This modern classic edition of Jonah''s Gourd Vine features an updated cover and a P.S. section which includes insights, interviews, and more. Jonah''s Gourd Vine, Zora Neale Hurston’s first novel, originally published in 1934, tells the story of John Buddy Pearson, “a living exultation” of a young man who loves too many women for his own good. Lucy, his long-suffering wife, is his true love, but there’s also Mehaly and Big ‘Oman and the scheming Hattie who conjures hoodoo spells to ensure his attentions. Even after becoming the popular pastor of Zion Hope where his sermons and prayers for cleansing rouse the congregation’s fervor, he has to confess that though he is a preacher on Sundays, he is a “natchel man” the rest of the week. And so in this sympathetic portrait of a man and his community, shows that faith and tolerance and good intentions cannot resolve the tension between the spiritual and the physical. That Zora Neale Hurston makes this age-old dilemma come so alive is a tribute to her understanding of the vagaries of human nature.

The Library of America is dedicated to publishing America''s best and most significant writing in handsome, enduring volumes, featuring authoritative texts. Hailed as the "finest-looking, longest-lasting editions ever made" (The New Republic), Library of America volumes make a fine gift for any occasion. Now, with exactly one hundred volumes to choose from, there is a perfect gift for everyone.

''One of the greatest writers of our time.'' Toni Morrison Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Genevieve West Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an author. You Don''t Know Us Negroes is the quintessential gathering of provocative essays from one of the world''s most celebrated writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Spanning more than three decades and penned during the backdrop of the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, Montgomery bus boycott, desegregation of the military, and school integration, Hurston''s writing articulates the beauty and authenticity of Black life as only she could. Collectively, these essays showcase the roles enslavement and Jim Crow have played in intensifying Black people''s inner lives and culture rather than destroying it. She argues that in the process of surviving, Black people re-interpreted every aspect of American culture--"modif[ying] the language, mode of food preparation, practice of medicine, and most certainly religion." White supremacy prevents the world from seeing or completely recognizing Black people in their full humanity and Hurston made it her job to lift the veil and reveal the heart and soul of the race. These pages reflect Hurston as the controversial figure she was - someone who stated that feminism is a mirage and that the integration of schools did not necessarily improve the education of Black students. Also covered is the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing her lover, a white doctor. Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer''s work, You Don''t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer''s development and a window into her world and mind.

This novel of turn-of-the-century white "Florida Crackers" marks a daring departure for the author famous for her complex accounts of black culture and heritage. Full of insights into the nature of love, attraction, faith, and loyalty, "Seraph on the Suwanee" is the compelling story of two people at once deeply in love and deeply at odds. The heroine, young Arvay Henson, is convinced she will never find true love and happiness, and defends herself from unwanted suitors by throwing hysterical fits and professing religious fervor. Arvay meets her match, however, in handsome Jim Meserve, a bright, enterprising young man who knows that Arvay is the woman for him, and refuses to allow her to convince him otherwise. With the same passion and understanding that have made "Their Eyes Were Watching God" a classic, Hurston explores the evolution of a marriage full of love but very little communication and the desires of a young woman In search of herself and her place in the world. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

The Sanctified Church is a collection of Hurston''s ground-breaking essays on Afro-American folklore, legend, popular mythology, and, in particular, the unique spiritual character of the Southern Black Christian Church. Along with preserving the customs, music, speech, and humor of rural Black America, The Sanctified Church introduces us to such extraordinary figures as Mother Catherine, matriarchal founder of a highly personal Voodoo Christian sect; Uncle Monday, healer, conjurer, and powerful herb doctor; and High John de Conquer, the trickster/shaman figure of freedom and laughter still honored in parts of rural Black America today. A pioneering ethnographer and folklore scholar, the great Zora Neale Hurston captured the exuberance, vitality and genius of Black culture with a vividness and authority unmatched by any other writer. (Back cover).

In "Poker!", Zora Neale Hurston skillfully delves into the intricate dynamics of African American community life during the early 20th century, employing a vibrant literary style that intertwines realism with rich, poetic dialogue. This short play showcases a high-stakes game of poker that becomes a microcosm for the larger social tensions and personal aspirations of its characters, highlighting themes of ambition, deception, and resilience. Hurston''s nuanced portrayal of her characters, coupled with her keen ear for vernacular speech, situates the work within the tradition of African American literature that both reflects and critiques societal norms of her time. Zora Neale Hurston, an influential figure of the Harlem Renaissance, was a folklorist and anthropologist whose own experiences navigating race and gender informed her writing. She traveled extensively throughout the South, immersing herself in the cultural practices of African American communities. This background informed her understanding of the complexities of human relationships and the subtleties of gaming, which she masterfully encapsulates in this play, using humor and tension to explore deeper societal truths. "Poker!" is a compelling exploration of the human condition, a testament to Hurston''s sharp wit and cultural insights. Readers seeking a rich, entertaining engagement with African American folklore and the complexities of interpersonal relationships will find this work both enlightening and enjoyable, highlighting Hurston''s enduring relevance.

" ACT I SETTING: A Negro village in Florida in our own time. All action from viewpoint of an actor facing audience. PLACE: Joe Clarke''s store porch in the village. A frame building with a false front. A low porch with two steps up. Door in center of porch. A window on each side of the door. A bench on each side of the porch. Axhandles, hoes and shovels, etc. are displayed leaning against the wall. Exits right and left. Street is unpaved. Grass and weeds growing all over. TIME: It is late afternoon on a Saturday in summer. Before the curtain rises the voices of children are heard, boisterous at play. Shouts and laughter. VOICE OF ONE BOY Naw, I don''t want to play wringing no dish rag! We gointer play chick mah chick mah craney crow. GIRL''S VOICE Yeah, less play dat, and I''m gointer to be de hen. [...]".

Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life is a 1930 play by American authors Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. The process of writing the play led Hughes and Hurston, who had been close friends, to sever their relationship. Mule Bone was not staged until 1991.

Do you dare to cross paths with ... An enchantress who can slip in and out of her skin, A man more evil than the devil, A skull who talks back, A pair of creepy feet that can walk on their own? Spooky, chilling, and fantastical, this collection of six scary tales will send shivers up your spine! The stories in the skull talks back have been selected from Every Tongue Got To Confess, Zora Neale Hurston''s third volume of folklore. Through Joyce Carol Thomas''s carefully adapted text and Leonard Jenkins''s arresting illustrations, the soulful, fanciful imaginations of ordinary folk will reach readers of all ages.

Three classic short form plays by the inimitable Zora Neale Hurston.

Zora Neale Hurston’s tragic 1926 play Color Struck is a thought-provoking commentary on colorism within the Black community. Set in Florida in 1900, Colour Struck begins on a Jim Crow train carriage. Barely making the train, Emma and John''s journey commences with an argument. Emma saw John speaking to a lighter-skinned Black woman, Effie, and was immediately jealous, assuming he was flirting. Throughout the play Emma continues to display animosity towards those with lighter skin, which often results in calamity. Exploring themes of colorism, self-destruction, and hatred, Zora Neale Hurston’s 1926 tragedy comments on intra-racial racism and warns of the adverse effects of harbouring hatred. Color Struck was first published in Fire!! magazine and won second prize in the Opportunity magazine’s contest for best play. Now republished in a new edition, Hurston’s play is not one to be missed by those with an interest in Harlem Renaissance literature.

A leading novel in the canon of African American literature—this free teaching guide for Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is designed to help you put the new Common Core State Standards into practice. “A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.”—Zadie Smith One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love story with the wit and pathos found only in the writing of Zora Neale Hurston. Out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist—Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African American literature.

A Kirkus and Shelf Awareness Best Book of 2022! A Bank Street College of Education’s Children’s Book Committee’s Best Children’s Books of the Year pick! From beloved African American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston comes a moving adaptation by National Book Award winner and #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist and Antiracist Baby, Ibram X. Kendi. Magnolia Flower follows a young Afro Indigenous girl who longs for freedom and is gorgeously illustrated by Loveis Wise (The People Remember, Ablaze with Color). Born to parents who fled slavery and the Trail of Tears, Magnolia Flower is a girl with a vibrant spirit. Not to be deterred by rigid ways of the world, she longs to connect with others, who too long for freedom. She finds this in a young man of letters who her father disapproves of. In her quest to be free, Magnolia must make a choice and set off on a journey that will prove just how brave one can be when leading with one’s heart. The acclaimed writer of several American classics, Zora Neale Hurston wrote this stirring folktale brimming with poetic prose, culture, and history. It was first published as a short story in The Spokesman in 1925 and later in her collection Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick (2020). Tenderly retold by #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi, Magnolia Flower is a story of a transformative and radical devotion between generations of Indigenous and Black people in America. With breathtaking illustrations by Loveis Wise, this picture book reminds us that there is no force strong enough to stop love.

An Instant New York Times and Indie Bestseller! In the first middle grade offering from Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi, young readers are introduced to the remarkable and true-life story of Cudjo Lewis, one of the last survivors of the Atlantic human trade, in an adaptation of the internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed Barracoon. This is the life story of Cudjo Lewis, as told by himself. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America to be enslaved, eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis was then the only person alive to tell the story of his capture and bondage—fifty years after the Atlantic human trade was outlawed in the United States. Cudjo shared his firsthand account with legendary folklorist, anthropologist, and writer Zora Neale Hurston. Adapted with care and delivered with age-appropriate historical context by award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi, Cudjo’s incredible story is now available for young readers and emerging scholars. With powerful illustrations by Jazzmen Lee-Johnson, this poignant work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.

A First Folktale from the creators of Magnolia Flower, Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi, about the origin of butterflies. The Creator wuz all finished and thru makin'' de world. But soon, the Creator finds themselves flying through the sky, making gorgeous butterflies of every color, shape, and size. Find out why butterflies were made in Zora Neale Hurston''s stunning and layered African American folktale retold by #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi and illustrated by Kah Yangni. This accessible and sizable board book is perfect for introducing the youngest of readers to the beauty of Hurston''s storytelling and will spark curiosity in children about how things in our world came to be.

Delia Jones endures the relentless cruelty of her husband, Sykes, in a small Florida town. As a hardworking washwoman, she finds solace in her routine and the church, despite Sykes''s abusive behavior and infidelity. When Sykes brings a deadly rattlesnake into their home to terrorize her further, Delia''s fear transforms into a cold, determined rage.

Three hungry witches set out to eat two orphaned children while their grandmother is away at the market.

At low tide the hull of the Clotilde can be seen a little even now, in the marsh of Bayou Corne, in Alabama, where she was scuttled and sunk. She was the last ship to bring a cargo of “black ivory” to the United States—stealing into Mobile Bay on a sultry night in August, 1859, only two years before Abraham Lincoln was elected and only five years before Emancipation. The progeny of those last-minute slaves today still live in Alabama, mostly in the untidy clapboard village of Plateau, long also known as African Town.

Florida 1928. In einer einzigen Nacht erzählt Janie ihrer besten Freundin Pheoby wie sie aufbrach, ein anderes Leben zu führen, den viel jüngeren Tea Cake traf, endlich das Glück fand, und was geschah, als der große Hurrikan kam ... Von ihrer Reise kehrt Janie als ein neuer Mensch zurück - und mit ihr alle, die ihre Geschichte hören. Der Klassiker aus den USA, zum 120. Geburtstag der Autorin neu übersetzt, gehört zu den schönsten, traurigsten und herzergreifendsten Liebesgeschichten, die je geschrieben wurden.

Mule Bone is the only collaboration between Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, two stars of the Harlem Renaissance, and it holds an unparalleled place in the annals of African-American theater. Set in Eatonville, Florida--Hurston''s hometown and the inspiration for much of her fiction--this energetic and often farcical play centers on Jim and Dave, a two-man song-and-dance team, and Daisy, the woman who comes between them. Overcome by jealousy, Jim hits Dave with a mule bone and hilarity follows chaos as the town splits into two factions: the Methodists, who want to pardon Jim; and the Baptists, who wish to banish him for his crime. Included in this edition is the fascinating account of the Mule Bone copyright dispute between Hurston and Hughes that ended their friendship and prevented the play from being performed until its debut production at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York City in 1991--sixty years after it was written. Also included is "The Bone of Contention," Hurston''s short story on which the play was based; personal and often heated correspondence between the authors; and critical essays that illuminate the play and the dazzling period that came to be known as the Harlem Renaissance.

" Née en Floride en 1901, première anthropologue noire, Zora Neale Hurston ne voulait pas, disait-elle, faire partie de "l''école sanglotante de la négritude". Quand elle meurt en 1960, elle est complètement oubliée. C''est dans les années soixante-dix que les romancières noires américaines reconnaissent leur dette envers elle ; Alice Walker lui offrira même une pierre tombale posthume... " Gérard Meudal, Libération. " Un regard sans émois qui n''est pas sans rappeler celui de Chester Himes." A.E., Le Quotidien de Paris. " On dit d''Une femme noire qu''il s''agit du premier livre explicitement féministe de la littérature afro-américaine. C''est beaucoup mieux que cela : plus fin et pas du tout vindicatif-revanchard... Bravo à la traductrice qui a su adapter ce roman en respectant toutes les subtilités de la langue. Un beau voyage. " Valérie Le Du, Charlie Hebdo " C''est comme un accent chantant, un livre qu''il fait presque bon lire à voix haute. C''est un, livre qui sonne juste. Un livre qui vit. " Christophe Henning, La Voix du Nord.

" Um clássico de Zora Neale Hurston que conta a história épica de Janie Crawford em sua busca por uma identidade.Uma jornada sobre o amor, as alegrias e as tristezas da vida. Aclamado como o mais belo romance da literatura negra norte-americana de sua época, Seus olhos viam Deus descreve a trajetória de Janie Crawford, uma heroína afro-americana que enfrenta o tabu de escolher o próprio destino na Flórida da década de 1930. Hurston não escreve, especificamente, sobre a discriminação num mundo dominado por brancos — o que lhe rendeu algumas críticas de militantes pelos direitos dos negros —, mas é precisa na construção da tensão dos relacionamentos. O uso de dialetos e da linguagem coloquial em Seus olhos viam Deus atraiu para a escritora a crítica de outros autores negros, que a acusavam de uma atitude paternalista em relação aos brancos. Para estes, Hurston concedia aos brancos os estereótipos culturais negros esperados pela classe dominante. A escritora, que chegou a ganhar uma bolsa de estudos da Fundação Guggenheim em 1937, foi recebida com certa resistência por autores ligados ao Renascimento do Harlem e praticamente ignorada nos anos 1950 e 1960. Anos mais tarde, no entanto, quando aslutas dos movimentos negros abriram espaço para a literatura negra nas universidades dos Estados Unidos, o talento literário de Zora foi reconhecido ao lado de grandes figuras do feminismo negro, como Audre Lorde e Alice Walker, e a admiração tomou o lugar da crítica. Surgia assim um amplo movimento liderado por pensadoras e ativistas afro-americanas, dedicadas a traçar as matrilinhagens da intelectualidade negra, e que reverenciam Seus olhos viam Deus como uma “obra-mestra” (ou maestrapiece, como propôs Alice Walker). Seus olhos viam Deus acompanha o retorno à terra natal, depois de uma longa ausência, de Janie Crawford. Seus compatriotas, principalmente as mulheres, são desinteressantes e nada amistosos, sempre fofocando, engalfinhados em cochichos na porta de casa. O assunto preferido de Janie são suas aventuras amorosas: casada aos 12 anos com um homem muito mais velho — e muito mais rico —, por intervenção da avó, ela foge em busca de um caminho próprio. A heroína de Seus olhos viam Deus incorpora o inconformismo com o status quo. Uma revolta contra o que se espera de uma mulher pobre e negra. Ela denuncia a violência contra as mulheres em geral e as negras em particular. Casada três vezes e acusada de matar um dos maridos, Janie Crawford atrai para si a inveja das mulheres e o ódio dos homens. A miríade de emoções que a volta da filha pródiga causa aos moradores da pequena cidade nos confins da Flórida leva Janie a tentar se justificar, abrindo seus segredos para a amiga Pheoby. “Não há livro mais importante que esse.” - Alice Walker, autora de A cor púrpura “Há uma bela simetria entre texto e contexto no caso de Seus olhos viam Deus: o livro afirma e celebra a cultura negra (...).” - Mary Helen Washington, crítica literária, ensaísta, professora da Universidade de Maryland "