Annotated Bibliography
Awkward, Michael. Introduction. New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.1-17.
In this introduction, Awkward discusses Hurston as a black revolutionary, the misconception of her by her contemporaries, and praises her inspiring African-American tale, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Awkward explains how the male critics of the thirties, such as Wright and Locke, focused on Hurston's character and life (3). Current black female authors, Walker and Morrison, embrace her novel as uniquely feminist (3-4). The novel gives a "voice to the voiceless" and is encouraging as well as awakening because it was against the traditional black literature of the time (33). Overall, Hurston's work takes a profound, candid look at the black rural life of an oppressed woman, which upset her contemporaries and inspired recent feminist readers and writers.
Bethel, Lorraine. Harold Bloom. ed. "This Infinity of Conscious Pain." Modern Critical Interpretations: Zora NealeHurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 9-17.
Bethel regards Hurston's writing as "revolutionary," discredits the attacks of male critics upon her work, and explains the "Black female literary tradition" that she believes Hurston fits into (5). Male critics generally did not like her work or many other female writers because they had preformed judgments that women wrote only shallow and emotional works without a purpose. Hurston however incorporated her black heritage into her novel while giving value and hope to the struggling black woman. Limitations and constraints were always being placed upon black women, as portrayed in Janie's life, so she exposes society for its unfair treatment while encouraging women to gain strength and their own identity, as Janie did.
Brown, Sterling A. "Luck Is a Fortune."Nation, New York, Vol. 145, No. 16, October 16, 1937.pp. 409-10.
Brown makes the case that the novel is not the story of Miss Hurston's own people. He also points out that even in death, race doesn't matter, even in burial. While overly obsessed with Socialist ideals, he suceeeds in de-racifing the text into a cohesive thought on society as a whole.
Carby, Hazel V. "The Politics of Fiction. Anthropology, and the Folk: Zora Neale Hurston." Ed. Michael Awkward New Essays on TEWWG. Cambridge, Mass: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Page 71.
This essay focuses on rural black folk as a group ZNH used in TEWWG and her defense of it against her critics opinions of the group. While most black authors were focusing on the social conscious of black in the 1920's and 1930's, ZNH was trying to preserve primitive aspect of the Afro-American culture from whence all present culture derived. Critics complained of the dialect as degrading to the present black population and enhancing stereotypes yet ZNH noted that one of the proponents of the black culture is its oral language.
Christian, Barbara. Black Women Novelists. Greenwood Press. London. 1980.
This book concentrates on the black woman in relation to her community. By studying this relationship we can asses the individuals cultural values. By looking at Janie's relationship with her community we can better determine her values, and therefore her sense of self.
Delbanco, Andrew. "The Political Incorectness of Zora Neale Hurston."Required Reading, Why Our American Classics Matter Now. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, NY, NY, 1997.
Delbanco discusses his reason for Hurston to be included in the American canon; her ability to detail things and beautiful use of the African-American lexicon. He argues that Hurston does have her flaws, but is more than able to hold her own, as long as "literary fortunes continue to fluctuate with the temper of the times (203)." He offers insights into the African-American psyche, as well as information on how it connects with the novel.
Dubey, Madhu. Black Women Novelists and the Nationalist Perspective. Indiana University Press. Indianapolis. 1994.
This book relates some of Hurston's own feelings on black solidarity. She felt that there were only individuals, no black solidarity. I found this of interest to my focus because it forced me to look at Janie as an individual apart from her community, even from her own race. It made me see her as a woman first and foremost.
DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. "Power, Judgment, and Narrative in a Work of Zora Neale Hurston: Feminist Cultural Studies." New Essays On Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ed. Michael Awkward. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990. 95-119.
This essay focuses on the issues of gender, color and sexuality surrounding the main character, Janie. The sensuality of the novel begins on the first page when her body and hair are mentioned and continues with Janie's mysterious sexual rendezvous under the pear tree. Janie is at first upset to learn she is black but by the ending she has "pierced the darkness" of her embarrassment or ignorance of her race in order to accept her color and possibly become the individualistic woman she wants to be. Janie uses her voice, as well as her "thinking silence," to gain power and independence. Janie finds gender color and sexual freedom with Tea Cake but Hurston allows her to kill him so she can be free from any outside influences of obstacles that might get in the way of her independence.
Evens, Elliot. Race, Gender and Desire. Temple University Press. Philadelphia. 1970.
Evens argues that in most black literature written around the time that There Eyes Were Watching God delt with the heroic (or anti-heroic) aspects of black males. There Eyes Were Watchinq God, on the other hand deals with the personal development and freedom of a black female. Evens stresses that the language used by Janie asserts her presence in the novel and exemplifies her development.
Gates, Henry Louis, ed. Bearing Witness: Selections From African American Autobiography in the Twentieth Century. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991. pp. 32-37.
Provides a Hurston work entitled How It Feels To Be Colored Me, which was published in 1928. She explains her experiences as an black woman and her attitudes of what being a black woman means. Many parts of this passage provide insight into her texts and the attitudes of her characters as a reflection of her own. She says of Eatonville and the goings on there, "the front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat for me" (33). The porch and the importance it had to her is carried over as a major setting and theme in the Eatonville passages in Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Hinton, Kip "Zora Neale Hurston Homepage"http://pages.prodigy.com/zora/ Accessed 1-20-98.
Mr. Hinton's homepage documents the life and times of Hurston in a dedicated way. He offers a public forum for discussion on Hurston and her works, as well as a targeted push for recognition for a "suberb Black Author." What is so interesting and relevant to this is that there is no target at all on class, just a focused push on why she is a good Black author.
Howard, Lillie P. Zora Neale Hurston. Twayne Publishers, 1980.
Howard presents the case that Hurston was primarily a Black Nationalist first, then a novelist. To Howard, Hurston's novel is important because it "affirms blackness while not denying whiteness in a black-denying society."
Jordan, Jennifer. "Feminist Fantasies: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature. 7 (1988): 105–17.
After a three page discussion of various scholarly views on black feminist theory, Jordan disputes the notion held by many black critics (namely Alice Walker) that Their Eyes Were Watching God is a black feminist text. She argues that Janie never achieves self-realization outside of her marital relationships and that she never develops a strong communal bond with other black women. Jordan examines various incidents in the story that illustrate Janie's dependence on her male-dominated relationships and the novel's general failure to meet critical standards of true black feminist ideology.
Levecq, Christine. "You Heard Her, You Ain't Blind: Subversive Shifts in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. " Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature. Volume 13(1994): 87-111.
This article initially praises Janie for her importance as a black feminist character. Levecq then introduces her idea of "subversive shifts" which undermine the text. She addresses the issue of self-division, which Janie experiences during her marriage to Starks. Janie is viewed as self-defeating by going along with Starks' low image of her. In these situations with Starks, Levecq cites some contradictions in the way Janie thinks. Levecq ultimately states that through discrepancies and Janie's failure to really find her identity, Hurston introduced the very complex idea of identity itself.
Ogren, Kathy J. "Controversial Sounds: Jazz Performance as Theme and Language in the Harlem Renaissance." Singh, Amritjit, Shiver, William, Brodwin, Stanley, eds. The Harlem Renaissance: Revaluations. New York: Garland, 1989. Page 159.
Authors, like ZNH, have used performance of jazz and blues as a way of establishing the roots of music in black culture to show the culture's indigenous facts. ZNH had a first hand account of the rural traditions of black culture which confirmed her work. `Jooks' are described as being the gathering place for southern blacks who wanted to relax and be entertained amongst music and dancing, and from where jazz is based.
Roberts, John. "Review of Their Eyes Were Watching God."Journal of American Folklore. Vol. 93, No. 370, October-December, 1980, pp. 463-66.
Roberts views the novel as a primary vehicle of folklore delivery. He also contends that the racial predjudice prevalent at the time necessarily is abscent from the novel so that Hurston may continue to develop the idea of Eatonville. He notes that race is only shown in connection with class. He makes the case that in a roundabout way, whites could construct a similiar narrative.
Walker, S. Jay. "Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God : Black Novel of Sexism." Modern Fiction Studies. Volume 20(1975): 519-527.
Walker defines the aims of liberation organizations in the first section of his article. He explains the idea of black women having their "place" or roles in Black Nationalist organizations. From here, Walker ties in the struggle against sexism which Janie fights. Her marriages are analyzed for their oppressive content, and, in Tea Cake's case, their role in Janie's growth and identity as an individual.
Washington, Mary Helen. "The Black Woman's Search for Identity". Rev. of Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. Black World. Aug. 1972: 68-72.
Washington explores three main aspects of the novel including the dialect of the "Black rural life," the fact that the main characters are all black, and Janie's quest to find her "identity within the black culture" (68). The language helps the reader to relate to the black culture and helps us to understand the novel better. In addition, using an all-black town allows the focus to be on the relationships of the characters instead of racial politics between blacks and whites. Furthermore, Janie's constant search for her true self is fulfilled when she comes to terms with her "Blackness," a sin that neither Starks or Nanny would have approved of (72).
Wright, Richard."Between Laughter and Tears." New Masses. Vol. XXV, No.2, October 5, 1937.pp. 22, 25.
This is the by-now-infamous critique of Their Eyes. Wright, an African American, offfers his blistering insight as to why Hurston's novel is not fit to be published. Rather than focus on Black Identity, he chose the Black Struggle, and not seeing enough, considers the entire work trash as it doesn't clearly identify the necessary enemy (whites) nor attack them enough.