Zora in Florida

"By linking Hurston s work to her Florida experiences, the authors explicate her love of black culture and her attitude toward the lot of women in a man s world. An important contribution to the Hurston revival."--Booklist

Following years of neglect, Zora Neale Hurston s status in American letters is restored: she is now recognized as one of the foremost African-American writers of the twentieth century an artist of the Harlem Renaissance and a native Florida writer. Zora in Florida focuses on the place that nurtured and inspired her work, the frontier wilderness of central Florida and the all-black town of Eatonville.

Two chapters are devoted to her first novel, Jonah s Gourd Vine, set almost entirely in Florida. Others discuss her work for the WPA in Florida
Tracks on the Road, her autobiography
and Mules and Men, her collection of Florida folklore gathered under the direction of anthropologist Franz Boas. The book also treats Hurston s lesser-known works such as the play Color Struck and Tell My Horse, her first-person account of fieldwork in Haiti. The legal troubles, professional eclipse, and personal opprobrium Hurston endured late in life are discussed in the final chapter.