Posted by kip on 5/30/2006, 8:48 pm, in reply to "Zora Neal Hurston and Richard Wright"
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they had a cold relationship. they met early on in harlem, before either one had published. later, whether personal or literary, wright harshly criticized hurston and vice versa. they continued to tackle the same issues, usually taking opposing stances on topics like use of dialect, the white-owned publishing industry, "by any means necessary" vs. peaceful protest, segregated schooling, racial employer/employee dynamics, female empowerment, etc. these were addressed in their books and essays. never a face to face dialog.
wright's view of race won out during their lifetimes, but hurston has gained immense stature in the past 20 years. this is partially a shift in political climate, but partially because of wright's tendency to tell current-events-type stories, while hurston thought about big ideas, then expressed them with specific stories. i'm not saying wright didn't care about the big picture, but his 1930s-1940s politics have somewhat limited application. especially when it comes to speaking to students of today. hurston is a better fit for the current "cultural identity" model of black studies.
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