Robert W. Croft. A Zora Neale Hurston Companion.

Westport: Greenwood P, 2002. 256 pp. $74.95.

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie tells Pheoby Watson what she experienced, which Pheoby then narrates to us. In her books, Hurston attempts to maintain the oral tradition, one of the outstanding African American literary traditions, by which African Americans state the fact that they inherited African culture through the generations. The flow of the oral tradition does not stop with the narrator, but will continue forever. This is the principal impression that I had when I finished reading Crofts excellent reference book about Zora Neale Hurston.

After a brief overview of Hurston's life, the main section of Croft's study serves as a companion for Hurston's works, characters, themes, and motifs. Hurston's works cited in this section consist of 7 books, 27 short stories, 4 plays, and 7 nonfiction writings. In the companion, Croft includes about 780 entries, which can be subdivided into about 620 characters from her works, about 60 people outside of her works, and about 100 objects, animals, motifs, themes, etc. This kind of cataloging requires mental stamina; overall, he has carefully and arduously selected suitable entries. Thanks to his efforts, we can easily find not only where we came across whom, but also what kind of animal, food, fruit, etc. we encountered along the way.

The entries in the companion confirm statistically that Hurston repeatedly uses certain images and characters. Joe Clarke's storefront, for example, is considered one of the most important sites of discovery during Hurston's youth. Under the entry "Joe Clarke," eight works are listed: "The Eatonville Anthology," Mule Bone, Color Struck, "The Bone of Contention," Dust Tracks on a Road, "Sweat," "Uncle Monday," and Jonah's Gourd Vine. The entry substantiates that African American culture was enjoyed by the common people at Joe Clarke's storefront in their daily lives.

The appendix and bibliography are well-organized. The appendix lists eight libraries, followed by concisely categorized information on the manuscripts, letters, and photographs owned, and some other materials kept. The primary bibliography, works by Hurston, is divided into seven categories: 13 books, 4 plays, 28 short stories, 30 nonfiction articles and essays, 12 book reviews, 13 newspaper articles, and 5 poems. The secondary bibliography, works by others, lists 25 books, 490 articles or excerpts from books, and 9 reviews of Hurston's books. The index provides 872 entries.

There are some typographical and orthographical errors. In the entry "De Turkey and de Law," "Langston Hughes" is misspelled as "Langton Hughes"; in the entry "Duke," "attentons" should be "attentions"; the name Everett Edward Hurston is corrupted in the entry on "Edward Everett Hurston"; in "Trains," "Many Negros" should be "Many Negroes"; and under "Janie Woods," Tea Cake is referred to as "Teacake." The following are not errors but require changes: in "Nunkie," there are four Nunkies, but it is not necessary to include four Nunkies as entries. In the entry "Songahatchee," for consistency, [sic] should be inserted after "Songahatchee," because the creek which Hurston uses in her work is actually called "Sougahatchee Creek" in Alabama in the same way as the St. John [sic] River. In "Mrs. Sumpkins," at the beginning of the paragraph, "Eyes" is missing.

I would like to mention three other areas in which Croft could make improvements in a future edition of the Companion. First, the description of Hurston's family is incomplete. Even though Croft includes Pam Bordelon's article in his bibliography, he does not fully describe Hurston's ancestors and family members. Until recently, it has been difficult to read Hurston's family record, but the Bordelon article now provides a clear picture of it. I do not mean to suggest here that this family record is perfectly trustworthy. Benjamin Franklin Hurston's birth information explains the reason. In the family record, his year of birth is given as 1896, but in the 1910 Population Census (recorded date, March 26, 1910, in Orange County), his age is 14; that is, his year of birth must have been 1895, which is supported by the census record of June 18, 1900, in Orange County that he is four years old, born in 1895. In addition, examining the handwriting in the family record makes us skeptical that each year was properly recorded. In the birthplace column of Clifford Joel in the family record, for instance, Notasulga seems to have been written first as his birthplace but Eatonville to have been overwritten. Several census records confirm that he was born in Notasulga. Zora Neale Hurston, moreover, had a second elder brother, Isaac, who was born in September, 1883, but died soon after. Because of this, the order of birth needs to be added for each child after John Cornelius Hurston. In brief, Zora Neale Hurston is not the fifth child but the sixth.

Second, further information needs to be added to some entries. In the companion, almost no information about Zora's grandfather and grandmother on her father's and mother's sides can be found. Their names, birthdates, and birthplaces can now be confirmed by the family records and the population census. Their tombs have already been found as well. When we read Hurston's works, it is important to know that her grandfather on her father's side was white and that her family on her mother's side was wealthy. In addition, Mattie Moge, who married Zora's father after the death of her mother Lucy, needs to be included. Further entries also need to be added. In "Dancing," Croft should add "Drenched in Light" to the list of works. The dancing by the protagonist, Isis, figures importantly in this short story. Her dance at the carnival exalts the participants and soothes the sick white woman, Helen, who meets her on her way back home. Her name, Isis, tells us that the source of her dancing is Egyptian. Further information about female voices, Zora's mother's voice in particular, also needs to be added to the entry "Voice." Hurston writes in Dust, "She [Mother] depended on me for a voice." In this work, her mother's voice is denied by the community. In the same way, Janie's voice is restrained by Joe Starks in front of other Eatonville people. Finally, under the entry "Sun," the relationship between Zora and the sun might be explained. What her mother often told her children was to "jump at de sun." This expression is often used symbolically and metaphorically to express Zora's efforts as they were encouraged by her mother.

Third, Croft might make further improvements by dealing with Hurston's art of ambiguity. Clearly, he is trying to present the facts. In particular, when he discusses the outline of Hurston's work, he maintains this attitude. But I wish Croft would show several possible ways of reading Hurston's themes and motifs. For instance, when the characters in "The Gilded Six-Bits" are analyzed, many readers of CroWs book might want to know why Missie May is deceived by Otis Slemmons and what reconciles Joe Banks and Missie May.

Croft writes in his preface that

   this book grew out of a fascination that I developed with Zora Neale
   Hurston's writing the first time I read an excerpt from Their Eyes
   Were Watching God while I was attending graduate school. Having
   grown up in the "old Florida" myself, I was surprised, amazed,
   delighted, and enthralled to discover a writer of such great power
   and style, who wrote with the cadences of speech and the colorful
   idioms that I have heard all my life. So, when I began searching for
   a topic for a new research project, I naturally thought of Zora.

My situation is very different from Croft's. I have recently had the good fortune of publishing two books on Hurston: Zora Neale Hurston no Sekai [The World of Zora Neale Hurston] (Tokyo: Kokusho P, 1999) and Zora Neale Hurston no Kenkyu: Toki Hanatareru Karera [A Zora Neale Hurston Study: Those Freed of Bondage] (Okayama: Daigaku Kyoiku P, 2001). In the sense that Hurston has influenced my life, however, I can say that I have the same impression of the writer as does Croft. People who learn about Hurston through Croft's book and begin reading her seriously will soon develop the same fascination that we have, and this fascination will lead them to "a whole family of Hurstons."

Yuji Maekawa

Hiroshima Jogakuin University