A story of love and community, written by the hand of Zora Neale
Hurston, one of the 20th century's greatest authors, and a woman who
truly understands her characters' motivations. This modern classic
edition of Jonah's Gourd Vine features an updated cover and a P.S.
section which includes insights, interviews, and more.
Jonah's Gourd Vine, Zora Neale Hurston's first novel, originally
published in 1934, tells the story of John Buddy Pearson, "a living
exultation" of a young man who loves too many women for his own good.
Lucy, his long-suffering wife, is his true love, but there's also Mehaly
and Big 'Oman and the scheming Hattie who conjures hoodoo spells to
ensure his attentions. Even after becoming the popular pastor of Zion
Hope where his sermons and prayers for cleansing rouse the
congregation's fervor, he has to confess that though he is a preacher on
Sundays, he is a "natchel man" the rest of the week.
And so in this sympathetic portrait of a man and his community, shows
that faith and tolerance and good intentions cannot resolve the tension
between the spiritual and the physical. That Zora Neale Hurston makes
this age-old dilemma come so alive is a tribute to her understanding of
the vagaries of human nature.
