By contrast, the third feature in Awkward’s collection, Nellie McKay’s “’Crayon Enlargements of Life’: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God as Autobiography” possessed a more positive view of Their Eyes. Reminiscent of Hemenway and using elements of New Historicism with strong interest in authorial intent, “’Crayon Enlargements of Life’” despite the title, does not review Their Eyes as literal autobiography so much as somewhat autobiographical in terms of theme and narrative. McKay considered the spontaneity of Their Eyes’ existence (Hurston would later wish she hadn’t written Their Eyes as quickly as she did) and how certain aspects of the story line up with or cross over with Hurston’s actual life. To do so, McKay looked at the
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Borrowing from Hemenway’s biography of Hurston, Dalgarno focused her argument on Hurston’s work in anthropology and how that affected the narrative of Their Eyes. Though Dalgarno also reviewed Hurston’s use of both Standard English and phonetically written out dialogue to try and reconcile some of the issues Stepto had earlier addressed between the separation of Janie’s narration and the storytelling due to the third person omniscient perspective. Hurston spent studying folklore during the era of her patronage in the 1920s and Dalgarno aimed her criticism at how Hurston’s studies would have influenced the language and narrative framing of Their Eyes and the novel’s usage of symbols and imagery within the narrative. The conceit of McKay’s thesis is based in Structuralist and Deconstructionist language, referencing both Michel Foucault and Frederich Nietzsche. “Standard English, as it is used in the novel, is always in active relationship to speech, which it translates for the purpose of imposing and maintaining linear time” (Dalgarno 539). Complementing Dalgarno is Maria J. Racine’s 1994 essay "Voice and interiority in Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God'”, published in the journal African American Review. Racine began with a …show more content…
Although Janie’s pioneering personal embrace of the Bahamians and their culture generates an inchoate transnational folk community, Tea Cake’s conversation with Lias indicated that there is still national(ist) barriers to the growth of such a community (Bone
Borrowing from Hemenway’s biography of Hurston, Dalgarno focused her argument on Hurston’s work in anthropology and how that affected the narrative of Their Eyes. Though Dalgarno also reviewed Hurston’s use of both Standard English and phonetically written out dialogue to try and reconcile some of the issues Stepto had earlier addressed between the separation of Janie’s narration and the storytelling due to the third person omniscient perspective. Hurston spent studying folklore during the era of her patronage in the 1920s and Dalgarno aimed her criticism at how Hurston’s studies would have influenced the language and narrative framing of Their Eyes and the novel’s usage of symbols and imagery within the narrative. The conceit of McKay’s thesis is based in Structuralist and Deconstructionist language, referencing both Michel Foucault and Frederich Nietzsche. “Standard English, as it is used in the novel, is always in active relationship to speech, which it translates for the purpose of imposing and maintaining linear time” (Dalgarno 539). Complementing Dalgarno is Maria J. Racine’s 1994 essay "Voice and interiority in Zora Neale Hurston's 'Their Eyes Were Watching God'”, published in the journal African American Review. Racine began with a …show more content…
Although Janie’s pioneering personal embrace of the Bahamians and their culture generates an inchoate transnational folk community, Tea Cake’s conversation with Lias indicated that there is still national(ist) barriers to the growth of such a community (Bone