Lecture notes
Black Modernism and Zola Neale Hurston
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- The University Of Stirling (UoS)
Zola Neale Hurstons texts and the link to Black Modernism as a style.
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● Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zola Neale Hurston.● Hurston was an influential author of African-American literature and an
anthropologist who portrayed racial struggles in the early 20th century American
South. She offers a unique perspective between black culture, modernity and
modernism.
● The past and present influence each other, time and our perceptions of it are
dynamic rather than static. She explores the continued legacy that slavery would
have for Americans across racial lines and weaves elements of folklore that she
documents heavily throughout her work.
● Tells the story of Janie’s passage from repression to spiritual fulfilment as she goes
against the expectations set for her. Initially marriage and love are her idea of the
highest achievement but this changes after her marriages which simply prolong her
loneliness. Her marriage to Tea Cake is a catalyst who drives Jamie towards a stronger
sense of self.
● Mastery of Black southern dialect celebrates the culturally rich world of Janie, and
the novel is primarily concerned with finding a voice.
● Black Modernism
● An aesthetic practice which extends throughout the 20th century. Black modernists
use modernist techniques in conjunction with African American and African historical
context, highlighting the uses of forms along with issues of content .
● It confronts the singular ‘I’ by re-seeing black identities and inserting minority voices
into modernist writing.
● US: Black modernism flourished in the Harlem Renaissance, which was a blossoming
of African American Culture, particularly in the Creative Arts, and was the most
influential movement in African American literary history.
● It embraced literary, musical, theatrical and visual arts and participants sought to
reconceptualize the term ‘negro’ from the white stereotypes that had influenced
Black peoples relationship with their personal heritage and each other.
● The originality of black creativity could not be recognised if modernism was purely
understood as purely European.
● African American cultural traditions began in North America under conditions of
slavery that had severed African Americans from their African cultural heritage,
meaning that they began with a blank slate and created something unique out of
necessity, whereas Euro-American culture derived directly from European culture.9 In
this model, African American culture is original and authentically American while
Euro-American culture is derivative
● The Harlem Renaissance and American modernism share concerns such as
alienation, primitivism and experimental form but black writers of the period are
classified within the Harlem Renaissance group rather than American Modernist
writers.
● American Modernism is a movement which crosses racial and cultural boundaries.
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