
Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Hurston, Zora Neale
- Used
- near fine
- First
- Condition
- Near Fine
- Seller
-
Portland, Oregon
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1937. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's original orange cloth lettered in black; lacking the dust jacket. Near fine with minor shelf wear to cloth, small stain to textblock bottom edge at corner not affecting margins, previous owner address label to front paste down and pages toned. A fantastic copy of Hurston's best-known work, which took her only seven weeks to write in Haiti. Upon publication it generally received bad reviews, especially from fellow African American writers like Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison. It fell out of print and was nearly forgotten until Alice Walker's 1975 essay, "Looking for Zora" in Ms. magazine revived interest in it. Over the next four decades since then its reputation and sales have increased steadily. It is now one of the most widely read and critically examined novels of the 20th century.
Synopsis
Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel and the best-known work by African American writer Zora Neale Hurston. Set in central and southern Florida in the early 20th century, the novel garnered attention and controversy at the time of its publication, and has come to be regarded as a seminal work in both African American literature and women's literature. Time included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.
Reviews
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On Dec 20 2010,
feeney
said:
Janie Crawford, heroine of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD (1937), had a white grandfather and a black grandmother. The latter was a slave in 1864 when Janie's mother was born; the former was the owner of her plantation. Atlanta fell to Sherman. Ole Massa rode off to drive the Yankees back into Tennessee. Ole Missus came to cuss out Granny for birthing her blond haired baby. There will be a flogging tomorrow. Instead, Granny and baby hide out for weeks in the swamps. Then the Civil War ends and both are free. Around 1882 that baby born in slavery is old enough to be seduced by a (white?) teacher and gives birth to Janie Crawford. Somewhere around 1902 Granny (who has raised Janie) arranges her granddaughter's marriage to a north Florida black man with 60 acres. *** The rest of the story sees Janie running away from this husband. Later she runs away from a second and finds happiness in the arms of husband number three, Vergible Woods, known to one and all as Tea Cake, 11 years her junior. Janie joins him in Jacksonville. Soon enough they decamp for the Everglades to pick beans and are caught up in a great hurricane, during which Tea Cake, while saving Janie's life, is bitten by a rabid dog. By this time Tea Cake has also taught Jamie to use both rifle and pistol as an expert. Tea Cake is a life-loving gambler who adores Janie and makes her very happy. *** The novel is very vague as to time. I don't recall a single date being mentioned. Part of the fun of reading is therefore to construct a timeline. Autos abound by noveI's end and Jamie is around 40. So we are talking in the end of the early 1920s in Florida. * * * * The narrator writes crisp, elegant standard English. The other characters, all Southerners, mainly Negroes, speak a thick dialect of English that is most expressive. Sample: "You was twice noble tuh save me from dat dawg, Tea Cake, Ah don't speck you seen his eyes lak Ah did. He didn't aim tuh jus' bite me, Tea Cake. He aimed to kill me stone dead. Ah'm never to fehgit dem eyes. He wuzn't nothin' all over but pure hate" (Ch. 18). *** The novel is astonishingly good and convincing. A beautiful young, barely black woman finds ways to define herself in a world that wants to define her as a member of an inferior, segregated race, with no identity other than through her husband. Janie is no genius, but she is a canny learner and by tale's end is mistress of her fate. *** In 2005 THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD was made into a film for TV, starring Halle Berry as Janie. Oprah Winfrey was producer. *** -OOO-
Details
- Bookseller
- Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller Inventory #
- 140939845
- Title
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
- Author
- Hurston, Zora Neale
- Book condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Quantity available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Publisher
- J. B. Lippincott Company
- Place of Publication
- Philadelphia
- Date published
- 1937
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature;
Terms of Sale
Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
Biblio.co.uk member since: 2010
Portland, Oregon
Ask Seller a Question
About Burnside Rare Books, ABAA
Burnside Rare Books specializes in American and British literature, and rare nonfiction. We are located in downtown Portland, Oregon and open by appointment.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...[more]
- shelf wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...[more]
- jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...[more]
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...[more]
- fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...[more]
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