| Zora Neale Hurston (1891 – 1960) In company with other people I was introduced to Hurston through the enigmatic, Their Eyes. I found the novel most engaging and compelling. The feminist narrative which enlivens the text, introduces the heroine Janie, through her eyes we see the emancipation of a black women and the realisation of womanhood, after many years of turmoil. Hurston was lost to literature until the re-evaluation of her work by Alice Walker and Robert Hemenway. This was impart due to her idiosyncratic analysis on race relations and disingenuous remarks throughout her life. I would argue, these controversial opinions were said by her; however, they should be taken in context with the era she lived in. Due to the political and cultural landscape Hurston was writing in, expedience was needed. Hurston was writing with two diverse audiences in mind, thus her true opinions could not always be expressed. Another contributing factor; to her at times negative view on race; was patronage, and the confining legal agreements to what she could publish and what she was able to write. I have chosen two novels which I enjoyed immensely, and both represent the contrasting and the enigmatic paradigms within her work. As stated above, Their eyes, follows Janie through her gradual awareness and journey to self and womanhood. In contrast to Dust Tracks this narrative is free flowing, tender and affectionate and after finishing the text you feel a greater understanding of Hurston. Hurston believes in the American Dream and the ability of women to overcome the male controlled space. Dust Tracks is a more complicated novel to decipherer, and must be interpreted with the limitations placed on her by the publishers. Hurston, at the time of writing, was in poor financial standing and was persuaded that writing for a white audience would offer more recon pence. I would argue, in light of this contract that to understand this novel is to understand the constraints to which black women had to write in. The autobiography constructs the individual in relation to society. Societal contexts facilitate how we evolve and interact with people. This constructs how Hurston distinguishes between private and outer self, this links with the autobiographical tradition of the Negro, using codified language with which to converse within the wider world. As a recent convert to the work of Hurston I am dismayed with the acquisitions labeled toward Dust Tracks, in affect of, ignoring her race.
This labeling in some what ironic in light of W.E. Du Bois's “Double – Consciousness” The Souls of Black Folks (1903) When contextualizing Dust Tracks, one must remember the impossibility of writing a history of yourself, placed with the opportunity to reevaluate one's life within that life. Dust Tracks is complex to intrepid and the information revealed is some what diminutive. Dust Tracks reveals how she would like to be, rather than the reality. But with perseverance, an understanding of Hurston and America is discovered. Their Eyes is more expressive and naturalistic and reveals more of Hurston's inner self, it highlights a more progressive agenda for women within the male space. The 1970's saw Hurston's work revised and reflected within wider society and this critical revaluation was important to America, Black and feminist literature. This site is primarily intended as an introduction to Hurston and secondary, to the importance of the Harlem Renaissance within black culture. I hope with this introduction a further curiosity is rendered and additional reading is commenced. Reference DuBois W.E.B (1999) The Souls of Black Folk, Norton & Company Johnson, Y (1999) The Voices of African American Women: The Use of Narrative and Authorial Voice in the Works of Harriet Jacobs, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alice Walker (A…ity Studies Series Xxiv, American Literature) Peter Lang Publishing  |