Readings of excerpts from and critical analysis of Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching God, a novel about an independent and articulate black woman named Janie Crawford who sets out to be her own person in the 1930s.

"An introduction to Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their eyes were watching God for high school students, which includes biographical background on the author, explanations of various literary devices and techniques, and literary criticism for the novice reader"--Provided by publisher.

"In 1925, Barnard student Zora Neale Hurston--the sole black student at the college--was living in New York, "desperately striving for a toe-hold on the world." During this period, she began writing short works that captured the zeitgeist of African American life and transformed her into one of the central figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Nearly a century later, this singular talent is recognized as one of the most influential and revered American...

"From Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most important African American writers of the twentieth century, comes her riveting autobiography--now available in a limited Olive Edition.First published in 1942 at the height of her popularity, Dust Tracks on a Road is Zora Neale Hurston's candid, funny, bold, and poignant autobiography--an imaginative and exuberant account of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural south to a prominent place among the...

"Hurston and Hughes, two giants of the Harlem Renaissance and American literature, were best friends--until they weren't. Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) and Langston Hughes ('The Negro Speaks of Rivers,' 'Let America Be America Again') were collaborators, literary gadflies, and close companions. They traveled together in Hurston's dilapidated car through the rural South collecting folklore, worked on the play Mule Bone, and wrote...

Jezebel's sexual lasciviousness, Mammy's devotion, and Sapphire's outspoken anger -- these are among the most persistent stereotypes that black women encounter in contemporary American life. Hurtful and dishonest, such representations force African American women to navigate a virtual crooked room that shames them and shapes their experiences as citizens. Many respond by assuming a mantle of strength that may convince others, and even themselves,...

"This is a story intimately and compassionately told against the sensuous background of everyday life in Bombay."—Washington Post Book World

"Bracingly honest."—New York Times Book Review

The author of Bombay Time, If Today Be Sweet, and The Weight of Heaven, Thrity Umrigar is as adept and compelling in The Space Between Us—vividly capturing the social struggles of modern India...