American Feminist Literature

American Feminist Literature Justine Huber, Katrina Kennel, and Rachel Hannum

Famous Female Writers ~and how they influenced Zora Neale Hurston and her book Their Eyes Were Watching God

Fannie Hurst • Wrote about racism • Was Jewish (maybe why she wrote about racism) • Helped Jewish people escape from Germany during World War 1 • “American original and passionate hack who spoke to the masses, even if she did not number herself among.”-Brooke Krueger • First successes: Gaslight Sonatas, Star-Dust: The Story of an American Girl, Lummox

Fannie Hurst and Zora Neale Hurston • Both Zora Neale Hurston and Fannie Hurst used slangy dialogue and authentic details. • Zora Neale Hurston was Fannie Hurst’s research assistant. • It can be said that Fannie Hurst had a lot of impact on Zora because Fannie was Zora’s boss for a while before Zora started writing.

Edith Wharton • Published more than 40 works. This includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays • Wrote about high society in New York City • Loved working with words and was fascinated with them. She said, “Wherever I went, they sang to me like the birds in an enchanted forest.” • Wrote a book on the stuffy upper class rules. The book made the connection with the rules to women committing suicide.

Edith Wharton and Zora Neale Hurston • Unlike Zora Neale Hurston, Edith was raised in the upper class, however Edith wrote her best work set in lower class. • They both wrote about what they knew relating to how they grew up.

Willa Cather • Loved to read Greek and Latin classics and learned about European culture. • Grew up in Shenandoah Valley, but moved to a dead town in the west. • Wrote books on the effects of radical changes • Loved travelling • Wrote most books about prairie life and western towns. Wrote My Antonia!!

Willa Cather and Hurston

Eudora Welty • Wrote about people’s search for their identity and meaning. • Of course loved to read and learn. • Loved New York • Won Pulitzer Prize

Eudora Welty and Hurston

Shirley Jackson • Born in San Francisco • Used setting of Burlingame, CA for her first book because this is where she grew up. • Suffered from depression. • Married Stanley Edgar Hyman

Shirley Jackson ctd. • Had four children • Wrote every day • Wrote about ordinary domestic life • But she was mostly known for her eerie and gruesome works • Themes of her writing includes: turmoil, isolation, and inequity of fate • Work reflected her depression.

Nella Larson • African American • She was born black, but when her mother remarried, she tried to raise Nella as white. • Consequently, Nella had a life-long identity crisis

Nella Larson ctd. • First African American woman to win a Guggenheim fellowship. • Wrote about women who faced racial, sexual, and class prejudices. • Wrote Quicksand andPassing.

Nella Larson and Zora Neale Hurston • Both wrote about prejudices. • Both were African American. • Nella Larson and Zora Neale Larson were both born in the same year. Therefore, they both went through the same racism and sexism issues. Their books reflected the problems they went through.

Zora Neale Hurston Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to “jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground. ~ Zora Neale Hurston • Grew up in Eatonville FL. A place she later mentioned as a utopia where African • Americans could live without prejudice. • Neale was a leader into the Harlem Renaissance. (a time where African Americans started using their own tone instead of mimicking white ones in their art.)

Zora Neale Hurston Cont. • Zora was an American author who wrote stories, novels, anthropological folklore as well as an autobiography. Although she passed on in 1960 her work is still extremely well known. • She was also an anthropologist • Although she continued to write many works she died in poverty in 1960.

Zora Neale Hurston’s Style of Writing “There is no book more important to me than this one” ~Alice Walker • Their Eyes Were Watching God is her most famous work and was published in 1937. • She wrote a lot about sexism and not too much about racism although she usually portrayed an African American as her main character as in TEWWG. • She uses “slang” and her own “style” that is like no other writer of her time.

Conclusions Many female authors influenced Zora Neale Hurston. And similarly Zora Neale Hurston’s work is still influencing writers today. The women mentioned in this power-point were not the only ones that influenced her but we feel they are the most important. Hope you enjoyed it!

Citations • http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/pages/main.aspx • www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/j/shirley-jackson/ • www.google.com/images • http://www.zoranealehurston.com/ • http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/hurs-zor.htm • http://womenshistory.about.com/od/hurstonzoraneale/p/hurston_bio.htm • http://www.enotes.com/feminism-literature/hurston-zora-neale#startofreplay • Facts on file: • http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE42&NewItemID=True

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American Feminist Literature