African American Literature Essay

Zora Neale Hurston is acknowledged in nigh every discussion of the Harlem Renaissance as a major subscriber to the movement. She has excite several essay length literary fails that importantly discuss her contribution to the movement itself. These essays include Mary V. Dearborns discolor Women Authors and the Harlem Renaissance, Sharon Dean and Erlene Stestons Flower-Dust and spring duration Harlem Renaissance Women, John Lowes Hurston, predilection and the Harlem Renaissance, and Ralph D. Storys Gender and Ambition Zora Neale Hurston in the Harlem Renaissance. (Champion 167)Hurston has also inspired many references to create book length work speaking of her work. Those titles include Robert E. Hemenways Zora Neale Hurston a Literary Biography, Lillie P. Howards Zora Neal Hurston, and John Lows Jump at the Sun Zora Neale Hurston. These various titles contain insightful studies of the authors life and writing style, as well as about contain a comprehensive compilation of H urstons short stories and essays. (Champion 167) Hurstons work was not always received well when initially published. It is believed this was because well-nigh commentators during this time period were male.Many saw Hurston as politically worldly-minded and became upset because she was supported by white patrons. (Champion 166) Her work titled Their eyeball Were Watching God received a negative review when the reviewer was quoted as saying that he believes it posed situations irrelevant to African American Struggles. (Champion 166) After her death, her work seemed to have been forgotten, however it once again emerged in the 1970s and 1980s when she was rediscovered and reassessed. Much of her work has been published for the first time or reprinted and scholars have began examining it from the feminist, cultural and political perspective.(Champion 166) Hurston died in 1960, after she worn out(p) her last few years living in poverty she was unable to make a living from her wri tings during her lifetime. She had been working on a book titled The Life of Herod the Great, but it was never completed. Her death was fundamentally unnoticed by the world and she was buried in an unmarked grave. (Dickinson) The rediscovery of her work has finally earned her a rightful place among literary greats. As many scholarly subjects, Andrew Crosland points out that it is important to remember to place Hurstons works in historical and cultural context to gain broader perspectives.Her works remain visible reminders of tribulations of being a black woman in a white and masculine dominated society. (Champion 167)Works CitedBalshaw, Maria. Looking for Harlem urban Aesthetics in African American Literature. Sterling, Va Pluto P, 2000. Boyd, Valerie. About Zora Neale Hurston. The prescribed Zora Neale Hurston Website. 2007. . Champion, Laurie, and Emmanuel S. Nelson. American Women Writers, 1900-1945 a Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn Greenwood P, 2000.