Jonah's Gourd Vine: A NovelA 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. |
Contents
Section 16 | 127 |
Section 17 | 135 |
Section 18 | 137 |
Section 19 | 153 |
Section 20 | 157 |
Section 21 | 161 |
Section 22 | 165 |
Section 23 | 171 |
Section 9 | 71 |
Section 10 | 81 |
Section 11 | 97 |
Section 12 | 103 |
Section 13 | 105 |
Section 14 | 119 |
Section 15 | 125 |
Section 24 | 193 |
Section 25 | 199 |
Section 26 | 203 |
Section 27 | 219 |
Section 28 | 223 |