Just a Good Read

Two posts in the same day! Can you dig it? (does anyone say “dig” anymore in that context?)

A couple of weeks ago I read Zora Neale Hurston’s first novel, Jonah’s Gourd Vine. I have not read any of Hurston’s works before this, so I was not sure what to expect. I have to say, it was a very, very good work. Along with a good plot, gripping characters, and vivid descriptions, Hurston seemed to capture a sacramentality similar to that which Flannery O’Connor captures in many of her short stories. The way Hurston describes the train (which I would argue is a prominent character in the novel), the church gatherings, and the sermons transcend just a descriptive telling.

What is interesting about Hurston’s sacramentiality is the way she bridges the past and the future with African-American culture. More than once Hurston speaks of past, African influences on current Christian and non-Christian practices. When it is overt it is seen in a negative way (as the charmer of John Parson). When it is subvert it is seen in a positive way, as in the meetings in the woods that John Parson went to growing up. We need to remember that Hurston was a well trained anthropologist and so very aware of the influence past cultures were having on current cultures.

It is an excellent, beautiful book that I highly recommend.