Mules and Men

Rating:
Summary: Classic Black Folk tales at there greatest
Review: A fantastic collection by Zora Neale Hurtson. Includes spells, and superstions, witch craft, and some of the best short stories around. She gathers up the urban legends of the 1930-40's rural south and connects you to a culture and way of thinking that is both delightful and intriguing. At times amusing; it is written in the way of oral tradition, where people gather around and tell stories, the more outlandish, the more unique the better. Her work is simply wonderful. A great book, and good for those bad weather days.

Rating:
Summary: A Folklore Classic
Review: Although she really was born in Georgia, Hurston considered Eatonville, Florida her hometown. She originally wrote this work as a play with Langston Hughes. They had planned to call it "Mule Bone," but the two had a falling out prior to staging the work. The theater world's loss was actually the literary and folklore world's gain, and this book is a terrific study of black folklore from Florida and Louisiana. The book has wonderful folktales and descriptions of rootwork, and once the reader becomes acclimated to Hurston's use of black English, it is a pleasure to read. Hurston provided rich commentary by embedding the texts into a narrative about doing fieldwork in the 1920s. It's worth noting that Hurston compressed the amount of fieldwork time in this book as she had spent much more time in Florida than she presents in this work. It's important to keep these types of literary devices in mind when reading her book as she includes lots of allusions, hidden meanings, and clever wordplays to develop fascinating commentary on folklore.

Rating:
Summary: A Folklore Classic
Review: Although she really was born in Georgia, Hurston considered Eatonville, Florida her hometown. She originally wrote this work as a play with Langston Hughes. They had planned to call it "Mule Bone," but the two had a falling out prior to staging the work. The theater world's loss was actually the literary and folklore world's gain, and this book is a terrific study of black folklore from Florida and Louisiana. The book has wonderful folktales and descriptions of rootwork, and once the reader becomes acclimated to Hurston's use of black English, it is a pleasure to read. Hurston provided rich commentary by embedding the texts into a narrative about doing fieldwork in the 1920s. It's worth noting that Hurston compressed the amount of fieldwork time in this book as she had spent much more time in Florida than she presents in this work. It's important to keep these types of literary devices in mind when reading her book as she includes lots of allusions, hidden meanings, and clever wordplays to develop fascinating commentary on folklore.

Rating:
Summary: A Folklore Classic
Review: Although she really was born in Georgia, Hurston considered Eatonville, Florida her hometown. She originally wrote this work as a play with Langston Hughes. They had planned to call it "Mule Bone," but the two had a falling out prior to staging the work. The theater world's loss was actually the literary and folklore world's gain, and this book is a terrific study of black folklore from Florida and Louisiana. The book has wonderful folktales and descriptions of rootwork, and once the reader becomes acclimated to Hurston's use of black English, it is a pleasure to read. Hurston provided rich commentary by embedding the texts into a narrative about doing fieldwork in the 1920s. It's worth noting that Hurston compressed the amount of fieldwork time in this book as she had spent much more time in Florida than she presents in this work. It's important to keep these types of literary devices in mind when reading her book as she includes lots of allusions, hidden meanings, and clever wordplays to develop fascinating commentary on folklore.

Rating:
Summary: Great outline of African-American culture and folklore
Review: There are several things that make this book very enjoyable. One is the collection of folklore and "hoodoo", obtained from first-hand information. Ms. Hurston went to Florida for several months to gather her collection of folklore, and then to New Orleans for several more to study under various witchdoctors to gather the "hoodoo" information. Another is that she details her trips to these places. The stories aren't just written out and numbered; you know exactly who told them and under what conditions. I found this really helped me identify with the story much more. Finally, I'm from small-town Florida, and several of the places mentioned were very familiar to me. It's always nice to read a fellow-Floridian's work.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Audio Tape Ever!
Review: This audio tape recorded by Ruby Dee of Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men absolutely makes the case for audio-books because of Dee's extraordinary performance. I seriously doubt that Hurston could do better herself. It is so great that this is the third time I am buying it. The first two copies are owned by my Mom (artist Faith Ringgold) who is bi-coastal and keeps a copy loaded in the tape player ready to play, day or night, on each coast, and the third is for me because now from listening to my Mom's tapes I am as addicted to it as she is. This is becoming true of a lot of her friends. Whether you are doing something else or just listening, it fits in perfectly, and it is full of wisdom and laughs. It is absolutely the best, and I would buy anything else that Ruby Dee ever had anything to do with because she is the glue that makes it work.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Audio Tape Ever!
Review: This audio tape recorded by Ruby Dee of Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men absolutely makes the case for audio-books because of Dee's extraordinary performance. I seriously doubt that Hurston could do better herself. It is so great that this is the third time I am buying it. The first two copies are owned by my Mom (artist Faith Ringgold) who is bi-coastal and keeps a copy loaded in the tape player ready to play, day or night, on each coast, and the third is for me because now from listening to my Mom's tapes I am as addicted to it as she is. This is becoming true of a lot of her friends. Whether you are doing something else or just listening, it fits in perfectly, and it is full of wisdom and laughs. It is absolutely the best, and I would buy anything else that Ruby Dee ever had anything to do with because she is the glue that makes it work.

Rating:
Summary: Good Reading, Questionable Ethics
Review: Zora Neale Hurston, a student of Franz Boas, perhaps gives the clearest insight of the 'Boasian' method in her book, Mules and Men. In this book she not only becomes part of the African-American culture, but she was originally born into the culture (though not into the specific community she studies). This exemplifies the idea that culture can only be understood within itself and within its own history. In the book Mules and Men, one of Hurston's main objectives is to become one of the southern African-Americans (by gaining acceptance within the specific community), and she certainly achieves it. She records the southern African-American's folk-tales in a way that preserves not only the tale itself, but also the exact linguistics of the language -- grammar, tone, and dialect are all carefully sealed within her literary recordings. Having received her anthropological training from Boas, it is no wonder she sought to record even the grammatical details of the language.

Some parts of this book are rather disturbing ethically, because she becomes so deeply involved in the culture she actually participates in rituals that outsiders are not allowed access to. Her role in the community seems to border on the line of deception.