On Love and Trouble in Zora Neale Hurston’s Urban Stories

Authors:

Pages: 225-232
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/DFJK7403

Abstract:

Long thought to be solely dedicated to Southern rural locales and storytelling, Zora Neale Hurston revealed a hidden interest of hers when several short stories from the 1920s were recovered (a scholar found most of them in the Pittsburg Courier). It is clear that she had an opinion about the social and economic processes that were taking place in Harlem, the center for African American cultural activity at the beginning of the century. In most pieces rural meets urban with mixed outcomes. The present paper is an attempt to further Hurstonian criticism by providing an analysis of connection between love and trouble in these “new” stories – the aim is to show how layered they are with presuppositions about the intersection between age, race and gender.

Keywords:

Harlem Renaissance, youth, love, blues tradition, urban, gender

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