Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit

by Deborah G. Plant

This new biography takes into account the whole woman―not just the prolific author of such great works as Their Eyes Were Watching God , Moses, Man of the Mountain , Jonah's Gourd Vine , Mules and Men , as well as essays, folklore, short stories, and poetry―but the philosopher and the spiritual soul, examining how each is reflected in her career, fiction and nonfiction publications, social and political activity, and, ultimately, her death.

When we ask what animated the woman who achieved all that she did, we must necessarily probe further. Not one of the other existing biographies discusses or analyzes Hurston's spirituality in any sustained sense, even though this spirituality played a significant role in her life and works. As author Deborah G. Plant shows, Zora Neale Hurston's ability to achieve and to endure all she did came from the courage of her convictions―a belief in self that was profoundly centered and anchored in spirituality.

Genres: Biography

264 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Shannon Ratliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never ceases to amaze.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading most of Zora Neale Hurston's books, including her autobiography, for my library's book discussion on Their Eyes Were Watching God, I decided to finish up with a biography. Plant's book is the one the library had, and it was a good one. Although the series it is part of, Women Writers of Color, describes itself as being for the general reader, the book did have a somewhat academic feel, but there was no "literary theory" so it was fairly readable. The first two chapters were based largely on Hurston's Dust Tracks on a Road, only silently correcting the chronology; the rest of the book had new details and integrated the life with discussions of the novels and stories, which I generally agreed with. Plant occasionally was a bit too "spiritual" for me, but she is very enthusiastic about Hurston as a writer and a person and increased my appreciation of both.

[Lake Wales Public Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Truth is Stranger Non-Fiction Book Club gave Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit by Deborah G. Plant a 3-star rating. While the group really enjoyed talking about Zora Neale Hurston, finding her to be a fascinating person, many did not care too much for the book itself. They thought it was “tedious”, “so-so”, “too academic,” and had a very convoluted structure.

[Raymond Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found mention of this book in preparation for a study group I am organizing, Introduction to Zora Neale Hurston. This book provides a thorough and comprehensive assessment of Hurston's life and writings and I plan to add it to future session. Plant integrates many of Hurton's writings, showing the relationship, for example, between Dust Tracks, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Jonah's Gourd Vine, and Moses, Man of the Mountain. The chapter she dedicated to Hurston's final and unpublished work, Herod the Great, provided a useful introduction to that work as well as to the historical period of Herod's time and the state of the publishing industry during her life. This is a book I will return to again and again.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was much more academic than I had expected. Because of that, the author says the same things about Hurston repeatedly, just in different ways. It is not the book to read if you would like a quick, gossipy biography (which is what I was interested in) but it does seem to be a good, thorough biography of the author. One thing I had forgotten about Hurston was her close association with Franz Boas. Some how, I had thought the WPA paid for Thurston to go down to Florida and to travel around the South collecting folks tales, when it seems that she survived on grants and private donors who had been arranged, in part, by Boas. I also hadn't appreciated the amount of time Hurston spent in New Orleans becoming a voodoo initiate. One of my prized possessions is an original copy of the book, Gumbo Ya-ya, which contains stories, recipes and advice on conjuring and voodoo. It took a lot of interior fortitude to devote the amount of time and self that Hurston did to following the path of Marie LaVeau! Even though I was grateful for this and other information and analysis I found in the book, I still found it to be not quite the thing I was looking for. Maybe if I was actually doing research on Zora Neale Hurston, I would have enjoyed it more...

[Jennifer Nanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very well done biography of Zora Neale Hurston. It was very interesting. The author did a good job in conveying the spiritual essence as well as telling the story of Zora Neale Hurston.

The book attempts to describe primarily her spiritual journey throughout her life. I've never seen a biography do this before. But it is done very well. The book starts out telling her basic childhood growing up story. And then it talks a lot about her career especially in anthropology. I knew some of it but not to that great extent. And then it goes into her legacy as far as both her books and her anthropological work. It ends with interviews with various folks about how well she is remembered.

I enjoyed reading this.

[David Seals · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her long-censored essay in Chapter 5, "Who Was Herod and Why Was He Great?" alone justifies this historic insight, and the whole book. Shame on publishers rejecting this on prejudices against the great man. The other important literary work of the same period, in the 1940s-50s, Robert Graves' 'King Jesus', about the truth of the origins of Christianity, are earthshaking, groundbreaking revelations.