Their Eyes Were Watching God
by: Zora Neale Hurston
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At the height of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1930s, Zora NealeHurston was the preeminent black woman writer in the United States. She wasa sometime-collaborator with LangstonHughes and a fierce rival of RichardWright. Her stories appeared in major magazines, she consulted onHollywood screenplays, and she penned four novels, an autobiography, countlessessays, and two books on black mythology. Yet by the late 1950s, Hurstonwas living in obscurity, working as a maid in a Florida hotel. She died in1960 in a Welfare home, was buried in an unmarked grave, and quicklyfaded from literary consciousness until 1975 when Alice Walkeralmost single-handedly revived interest in her work.
Of Hurston's fiction, Their Eyes Were Watching God is arguably thebest-known and perhaps the most controversial. The novel follows thefortunes of Janie Crawford, a woman living in the black town of Eaton,Florida. Hurston sets up her characters and her locale in the firstchapter, which, along with the last, acts as a framing device for the storyof Janie's life. Unlike Wright and Ralph Ellison,Hurston does not write explicitly about black people in the context of awhite world--a fact that earned her scathing criticism from the socialrealists--but she doesn't ignore the impact of black-white relationseither:
Hurston's use of dialect enraged other African American writers such asWright, who accused her of pandering to white readers by giving them theblack stereotypes they expected. Decades later, however, outrage has beenreplaced by admiration for her depictions of black life, and especially thelives of black women. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora NealeHurston breathes humanity into both her men and women, and allows them tospeak in their own voices. --Alix Wilber
Product Description:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is a luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern black woman in the 1930s whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to seventy years.
This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates, boldly and brilliantly, African-American culture and heritage. And in a powerful, mesmerizing narrative, it pays quiet tribute to a black woman, who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard.
Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God met significant commercial but divided critical acclaim. Somewhat forgotten after her death, Zora Neale Hurston was rediscovered by a number of black authors in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and reintroduced to a greater readership by Alice Walker in her 1972 essay "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston," written for Ms. magazine. Long out of print, the book was reissued after a petition was circulated at the Modern Language Association Convention in 1975, and nearly three decades later Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered a seminal novel of American fiction.
With a new foreword by the celebrated novelist Edwidge Danticat -- author of Eyes, Breath, Memory; The Farming of Bones; and Krik?Krak! -- this edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God commemorates the singular, inimitable voice in America's literary canon and highlights its unusual publication history.
At the height of the Harlem Renaissance during the 1930s, Zora NealeHurston was the preeminent black woman writer in the United States. She wasa sometime-collaborator with LangstonHughes and a fierce rival of RichardWright. Her stories appeared in major magazines, she consulted onHollywood screenplays, and she penned four novels, an autobiography, countlessessays, and two books on black mythology. Yet by the late 1950s, Hurstonwas living in obscurity, working as a maid in a Florida hotel. She died in1960 in a Welfare home, was buried in an unmarked grave, and quicklyfaded from literary consciousness until 1975 when Alice Walkeralmost single-handedly revived interest in her work.
Of Hurston's fiction, Their Eyes Were Watching God is arguably thebest-known and perhaps the most controversial. The novel follows thefortunes of Janie Crawford, a woman living in the black town of Eaton,Florida. Hurston sets up her characters and her locale in the firstchapter, which, along with the last, acts as a framing device for the storyof Janie's life. Unlike Wright and Ralph Ellison,Hurston does not write explicitly about black people in the context of awhite world--a fact that earned her scathing criticism from the socialrealists--but she doesn't ignore the impact of black-white relationseither:
It was the time for sitting on porches beside the road. It was the time tohear things and talk. These sitters had been tongueless, earless, eyelessconveniences all day long. Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins.But now, the sun and the bossman were gone, so the skins felt powerful andhuman. They became lords of sounds and lesser things. They passed nationsthrough their mouths. They sat in judgment.One person the citizens of Eaton are inclined to judge is Janie Crawford,who has married three men and been tried for the murder of one of them.Janie feels no compulsion to justify herself to the town, but shedoes explain herself to her friend, Phoeby, with the implicitunderstanding that Phoeby can "tell 'em what Ah say if you wants to. Dat'sjust de same as me 'cause mah tongue is in mah friend's mouf."
Hurston's use of dialect enraged other African American writers such asWright, who accused her of pandering to white readers by giving them theblack stereotypes they expected. Decades later, however, outrage has beenreplaced by admiration for her depictions of black life, and especially thelives of black women. In Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora NealeHurston breathes humanity into both her men and women, and allows them tospeak in their own voices. --Alix Wilber
Product Description:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, an American classic, is a luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern black woman in the 1930s whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to seventy years.
This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates, boldly and brilliantly, African-American culture and heritage. And in a powerful, mesmerizing narrative, it pays quiet tribute to a black woman, who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard.
Originally published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God met significant commercial but divided critical acclaim. Somewhat forgotten after her death, Zora Neale Hurston was rediscovered by a number of black authors in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and reintroduced to a greater readership by Alice Walker in her 1972 essay "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston," written for Ms. magazine. Long out of print, the book was reissued after a petition was circulated at the Modern Language Association Convention in 1975, and nearly three decades later Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered a seminal novel of American fiction.
With a new foreword by the celebrated novelist Edwidge Danticat -- author of Eyes, Breath, Memory; The Farming of Bones; and Krik?Krak! -- this edition of Their Eyes Were Watching God commemorates the singular, inimitable voice in America's literary canon and highlights its unusual publication history.
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Rating: 
- Our horizions
Zora Neale Hurston was a trained anthropologist, and her masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God is a study of mid twentieth century black culture. However it is also so much more than that. Hurston preserved for posterity the colloquialisms and cadences of black southern culture, one generation removed from slavery. But she does so in a universal and thought provoking novel that explores the very building blocks of the human condition: love, our personal dreams and growth, and every person's search ... Read More
Rating: - Teen's Review
A few months ago we were given Their Eyes Were Watching God in English class to read, and though I love reading and writing both I'm usually hesitant about the literature we analyze in class - I find it dry and dull most of the time. But then I picked up the book, and began to read the first few lines: "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board..."
From that point on I was completely sucked in. Everything about it: the unforgettable, lyrical, poetical prose; the way Hurston delves ... Read More
Rating: - Great purchase
This is a must have book from anyone interested in literature. The book came in a timely manner and was in the same condition the seller described.
Rating: 
- Important yet Overrated
I say 'overrated' with no bitterness; I have read this book twice and agree that it should be part of American literature curriculum, but I cannot help but feel that it has become a classic somewhat by default. I think it provides important insight into a facet of the American experience given limited exposure in modernism, but as an actual work of literature I don't think it is of the same caliber as the work of Hurston's contemporary Langston Hughes (among the greatest of American poets of any time or ... Read More
Rating: 
- Hurston's prized novel
Alice Walker was one of the ones who helped put Zora Neale Hurston's works back on the map, and although the recent film version of Their Eyes Were Watching God probably doesn't match up to the novel's standards, it also was evident in giving more exposure to Hurston's novel. Perhaps one of the knocks against Their Eyes Were Watching God is the lack of plot--which basically consists of Janie experiencing three separate marriages and one tragedy before returning to her home--but it is evident that this ... Read More
- Our horizionsZora Neale Hurston was a trained anthropologist, and her masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God is a study of mid twentieth century black culture. However it is also so much more than that. Hurston preserved for posterity the colloquialisms and cadences of black southern culture, one generation removed from slavery. But she does so in a universal and thought provoking novel that explores the very building blocks of the human condition: love, our personal dreams and growth, and every person's search ... Read More
- Teen's ReviewA few months ago we were given Their Eyes Were Watching God in English class to read, and though I love reading and writing both I'm usually hesitant about the literature we analyze in class - I find it dry and dull most of the time. But then I picked up the book, and began to read the first few lines: "Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board..."
From that point on I was completely sucked in. Everything about it: the unforgettable, lyrical, poetical prose; the way Hurston delves ... Read More
- Great purchaseThis is a must have book from anyone interested in literature. The book came in a timely manner and was in the same condition the seller described.
- Important yet OverratedI say 'overrated' with no bitterness; I have read this book twice and agree that it should be part of American literature curriculum, but I cannot help but feel that it has become a classic somewhat by default. I think it provides important insight into a facet of the American experience given limited exposure in modernism, but as an actual work of literature I don't think it is of the same caliber as the work of Hurston's contemporary Langston Hughes (among the greatest of American poets of any time or ... Read More
- Hurston's prized novel Alice Walker was one of the ones who helped put Zora Neale Hurston's works back on the map, and although the recent film version of Their Eyes Were Watching God probably doesn't match up to the novel's standards, it also was evident in giving more exposure to Hurston's novel. Perhaps one of the knocks against Their Eyes Were Watching God is the lack of plot--which basically consists of Janie experiencing three separate marriages and one tragedy before returning to her home--but it is evident that this ... Read More
