Zora Neale Hurston: Collected Plays

Zora Neale Hurston

Published by Rutgers University Press 2008

Zora Neale Hurston

Collected Plays

Zora Neale Hurston
Edited by: Jean Lee Cole and Charles Mitchell

In the series Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas (MELA)

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813545127

Overview
Contents

About this book

Though she died penniless and forgotten, Zora Neale Hurston is now recognized as a major figure in African American literature. Best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, she also published numerous short stories and essays, three other novels, and two books on black folklore.

Even avid readers of Hurston’s prose, however, may be surprised to know that she was also a serious and ambitious playwright throughout her career. Although several of her plays were produced during her lifetime—and some to public acclaim—they have languished in obscurity for years. Even now, most critics and historians gloss over these texts, treating them as supplementary material for understanding her novels. Yet, Hurston’s dramatic works stand on their own merits and independently of her fiction.

Now, eleven of these forgotten dramatic writings are being published together for the first time in this carefully edited and annotated volume. Filled with lively characters, vibrant images of rural and city life, biblical and folk tales, voodoo, and, most importantly, the blues, readers will discover a “real Negro theater” that embraces all the richness of black life.

Author / Editor information

Jean Lee Cole is an associate professor of English at Loyola College in Maryland and the author of The Literary Voices of Winnifred Eaton: Redefining Ethnicity and Authenticity.

Charles Mitchell is an assistant professor of theater at Loyola College and the author of Shakespeare and Public Execution.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Chronology Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction: Zora Neale Hurston—A Theatrical Life Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
A note on the text Publicly Available Download PDF	xxxiii
Meet The Mamma (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Color Struck (1926) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Spears (1926) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
The First One (1927) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Cold Keener (1930) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
De Turkey and De Law (1930) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
The Sermon in The Valley (1931) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Four Plays from Fast and Furious (1931) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
The Fiery Chariot (1932) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
Spunk (1935) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	227
Polk County (1944) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
Appendix: Programs from The Great Day, From Sun to Sun, and All de Live Long Day Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
Explanatory Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	387
About the Editors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	390

Language: English
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 400
Illustrations
- Other: 1
Keywords: plays; African American literature; literature; African American; short stories; essays; novels; black; folklore; playwright; fiction; literary; Their Eyes Were Watching God; African American history; history; historian; critic; writer; female writer; black writer; black life; Negro theater; theater; writings; culture; cultural; African American culture; negro; blues; legacy; artistic; novelist; female writers

eBook

Published: June 3, 2008
ISBN: 9780813545127