Author: Zora Neale Thurston
The 28th of January marks the 50th anniversary of Zora Neale Thurston’s death. Originally buried in an unmarked grave, it is easy to argue that Thurston did not reach the fame that she deserved before her death. Had it not been for Alice Walker, one of the many authors who have been influenced by Thurston’s work, her grave still would be unmarked today.
Thurston was a significant figure in the Harlem Renaissance and produced much work during this time, partly as a result of her study of anthropology at Barnard College. However, the beginning of the Depression marked the end of freedom in writing, and when Thurston continued to try to publish books that were considered too “free,” she found it more and more difficult to find publishers. In 1937, she managed to publish what is now her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, but it was highly criticized and quickly disappeared from circulation. Richard Wright, a respected novelist at that time, claimed that it was not “serious fiction … carries no theme, no message, no thought.” Throughout the novel, Thurston uses Black Vernacular English (writing “dem” instead of “them” or “Ah” instead of “I”), and critics believed that this lowered respect for the black community. However, her choice to do so is a theme of the novel, control of language. She switched between Standard Written English and the Black Vernacular to emphasize a search for voice. Is it more important to write “properly” or to capture life realistically?
Alice Walker located Thurston’s grave in 1973, and published an essay in 1975, entitled “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” that sparked the more current and consistent interest in Hurston that never seemed to exist in her own lifetime. Will great authors ever be recognized before they are on their deathbeds? It doesn’t seem to happen very often. Today, Their Eyes Were Watching God deservedly has found its way onto several esteemed literary canons. A book once in and out of circulation, difficult to acquire for 30-some-odd years, finally found its home. Walker marked her grave fittingly: “A Genius of the South.”
