Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Now considered a classic of African American literature, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) was dismissed by contemporaries such as Richard Wright who wrote, Ms. Hurston's prose is "cloaked in facile sensuality and simplicity…her novel carries no theme, no message, no thought." This study group will discuss Hurston’s skill and artistry as a writer and her prose as truth. As Zora Neale Hurston says in the first sentence of her book, "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For women the dream is the truth--then act and do things accordingly." This lyrical, enigmatic aphorism launches Janie Crawford's own journey from adolescence to adulthood. Male characters and their dreams are also integral to Janie's story. Hurston was an author and an anthropologist, who had an intimate knowledge of the language, customs, and mores of the American Southeast. Join us on a summer journey of possibilities, feelings, and self-discovery. The novel is readily available in print and electronically. Recommended is the 75th Anniversary edition (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006) which features a Forward and Afterword by scholars, Edwidge Danticat and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. respectively. There is also a film version (directed by Darnell Martin, 2005) which is recommended but not required for the study group.