By Emma Ward | On April 24, 2017 | Updated August 23, 2025 | Comments (0)
Mules and Men is a 1935 ethnographical collection by Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most celebrated writers to come out of the Harlem Renaissance.
It’s well known that Zora was an incredible storyteller, evidenced by novels including Their Eyes Were Watching God, as well as numerous short stories. She was an accomplished ethnographer as well.
Zora was the first black student at Barnard College, the women’s college connected with Columbia. She studied with the noted anthropologist Franz Boas, who recognized her talent and abiding interest in the black cultures of the American South and Caribbean. Boas urged her to pursue more research, something that Zora loved to do. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On April 16, 2017 | Updated October 17, 2022 | Comments (0)
“I want to be alone for a whole summer, and get to the very dregs of life. I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow. Nobody shall be invited to stay with me, and if anyone calls they will be told that I am out, or away, or sick . . . Wouldn’t a whole lovely summer, quite alone, be delightful?”
That is what the narrator of The Solitary Summer wants, she being the fictional alter ego of the author Elizabeth von Arnim (who at the time of publication was known only as the anonymous “author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden.” Read More→
By Emma Ward | On April 10, 2017 | Updated October 4, 2022 | Comments (0)
George Hutchinson’s biography, In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line (2006) delves into Larsen’s experience as a mixed-race woman in a society obsessed with identity.
This factor weighed in on Larsen’s unique perspective on the world, showing up as themes in her two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929).
Hutchinson pays homage to Nella Larsen‘s influence in the world of African-American art; namely the era of the Harlem Renaissance as she progressed as a writer despite the boundaries of race. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On April 2, 2017 | Updated October 4, 2022 | Comments (0)
Gone With the Wind was published in 1936, at a time when the book industry, like all other businesses in the U.S., was still suffering from the results of the Depression. At least one person was concerned about the enterprise: Margaret Mitchell.
“I do hope they sell five thousand copies,” she remarked, “so they don’t lose money.” In one day GWTW sold 50,000 copies, and it was soon one of the fastest-selling books in the history of American publishing.
Published on June 30, 1936, GWTW had already been made a selection of Book of the Month Club, and advance sales were remarkable for a first novel by such an unknown author, particularly for a book of such length. Critics weren’t always as kind as the public. It’s fascinating to look back at how iconic books were reviewed in their own time. Read More→
By Nava Atlas | On March 29, 2017 | Updated August 5, 2026 | Comments (0)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) was the third published book and second novel by Zora Neale Hurston (1891 – 1960), the noted author and ethnographer. It’s arguably her best known work and something of a feminist classic.
Zora had a dual career as a writer (producing novels, short stories, plays, and essays) and as an anthropologist. With her determined intelligence and humor, she became a big name in the Harlem Renaissance movement of the 1920s.
Janie, the story’s heroine, searches for independence, identity, love, and happiness over the course of twenty-five years and several relationships. This story is actually not unlike Zora’s own, though it could be argued that she never found true happiness. Read More→
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