The Complete Stories (Paperback)

~ Zora Neale Hurston (Author) "The Villagers said that John Redding was a queer child..." (more)
Key Phrases: ahm gointer, frail eel, mah house, Tea Cake, Sweet Back, Missie May (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the greatest writers of our time." -- -- Toni Morrison

Product Description

A landmark gathering of short fiction, spanning the career of Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, and "one of the greatest writers of our time."--Toni Morrison

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060921714
• ISBN-13: 978-0060921712
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #545,064 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read, February 20, 2002

By	Aphrael (Tempe, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

The stories in this book cover just about everything from tales of alligator men to torrid love affairs. They provide a lot of insight into African American culture and history, and are even written in dialect. The forward included in this edition really helped me understand what I was reading when I started the book. Some of the stories are a little confusing though, because they are printed in two different versions in this book. There's a glossary of slang which is also really helpful. I'd reccomend it for anyone who's a fan of folklore or African American history or literature.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars African American Folklore with the classic Hurston Flavor, July 18, 2000

By	"legenddrw" (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews

These legends, folk tales, poems, and short stories, spendidly told, created and rewritten by Hurston, beautifully illustrate the pathos, passion and pleasure of the African American existence.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black folklore from Ground Zero, August 21, 2007

By	Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Prior to Zora Neale Hurston, the rich well of black folklore was laargely written by white writers such as Joel Chandler Harris and Roark Bradford among others, with varying degrees of accuracy. Most literate and educated blacks were too ashamed of their folk cutlure to write about it until ZNH came on the scene.

This is a fine collection of some of her best short fiction. "John Redding Goes to Sea," written during her college days, accurately describes the life of an intelligent young black man feeling trapped by the illiteracy around him. "The EatonVille Anthology" is a rich collection of anecdotes about her hometown of Eatonville, Fla. "Drenched in Light" is about a free-spirited young black girl and her exasperated mother. "The Bone of Contention" is an old handed-down folklore that inspired her aborted play with Langston Hughes MULE BONE.

I could go on and on, but collections like this are of vital importance since Black folklore and stroytelling is in danger of being a dying art form. Read and keep the flame alive.