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Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography (1942)

by Zora Neale Hurston

Other authors: Maya Angelou (Introduction)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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1,3621813,648 (4.07)122
Biography & Autobiography. African American Nonfiction. Nonfiction. HTML:

"Warm, witty, imaginative. . . . This is a rich and winning book."â??The New Yorker

From Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most important African American writers of the twentieth century, comes her riveting autobiographyâ??now available in a limited Olive Edition.

First published in 1942 at the height of her popularity, Dust Tracks on a Road is Zora Neale Hurston's candid, funny, bold, and poignant autobiographyâ??an imaginative and exuberant account of her childhood in the rural South and her rise to a prominent place among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.

As compelling as her acclaimed fiction, Hurston's very personal literary self-portrait offers a revealing, often audacious glimpse into the lifeâ??public and privateâ??of an extraordinary artist, anthropologist, chronicler, and champion of the Black experience in America. Full of the wit and wisdom of a proud, spirited woman who started off low and climbed high, Dust Tracks on a Road is a rare treasure from one of literature's most cherish… (more)

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» See also 122 mentions

English (16)  German (2)  All languages (18)
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Her father was the mayor and also a minister. Her mother, a school teacher died while Zora was young and her father quickly remarried. Zora and her stepmother didn’t get along so Zora found herself cast off and very independent from her mid teen years.

She had a series of dream visions foretelling her future. At many points in her life, she was able to confirm what was occurring by one of these foretellings.

She began her career as an anthropologist, collecting black folk tales and songs from the south.

Fiercely independent, with an absolute gift for laugh out loud funny, but often acerbic words: (“My grandmother glared at me like open-faced hell and snorted: I vominates a lying tongue.”)

This memoir was written in 1942 when she was at the top of her game as a writer, and a leader in the Harlem Renaissance.

Besides the memoir, there are three of her essays, including her thoughts on being a ‘race man’. I cannot but wonder if some of these thoughts led to her eventual obscurity in a time when blacks were eager to claim their rightful place after centuries of being treated as lesser.

“Light came to me when I realized that I did not have to consider any racial group as a whole. God made them duck by duck and that was the only way I could see them. I learned that skins were no measure of what was inside people. So none of the Race clichĂ© meant anything anymore. I began to laugh at both white and black who claimed special blessings on the basis of race. Therefore I saw no curse in being black, nor no extra flavor by being white."

Highly recommended. I will be reading more by Zora Neale Hurston. ( )
  streamsong | Jun 19, 2023 |
"Light came to me when I realized that I did not have to consider any racial group as a whole. God made them duck by duck and that was the only way I could see them. I learned that skins were no measure of what was inside people. So none of the Race cliché meant anything anymore. I began to laugh at both white and black who claimed special blessings on the basis of race. Therefore I saw no curse in being black, nor no extra flavor by being white."

To me, this quote pretty much summarizes Zora's philosophy on life. I've said this once and I'll say it again: Zora was Zora. She wasn't trying to be anyone but herself. This isn't a "feel sorry for me" autobiography. This is a "this is who I am" autobiography. She was a storyteller and a somewhat of a humorist and that is what you will get reading this I hope.

I think most people know Zora as the author of Their Eyes Were Watching God. I did love that book, but that's not the only thing she wrote. She was a very talented woman and deserves more credit than being the author of that book. She wrote a ton about folklore. She grew up liking fairy tales and mythology stories. She did a lot of traveling and gathered oral stories to put on paper for the world to read. Even though this is non-fiction, I liked the fact it read like a Zora folktale as well.

I honestly like her views on race. I don't talk about it much, but I share the same views as her and were not even the same race or sex. She believed that race didn't define who you were as a person. She saw good and bad in all race. It's funny reading this because she was living in a time oddly similar to what is happening now. Yet her view points are polar to what the social media likes to claim which is true. She didn't agree with Democrats, Socialist, or Communist. She didn't like people who took pride in there race nor did she like them forming groups. To her blacks were not a group, but individual people. She'll even admit blacks don't get along with other blacks. She didn't get along with her "folks" either. All she had to do was say she was a Republican and they would turn the other way. Although, most people think she would be a Libertarian today.

I also love what she said about her writing. Her first book wasn't liked by her black peers. It wasn't politically angry enough for them. I haven't read her first book yet, but doesn't seem like it has anything to do with politics. Her whole life she just wanted to write about what she wanted to write about. Apparently, she had people telling her what to write. This isn't mentioned in the this book because it's after, but her last book was abut a white woman and she was told blacks can't write about whites...well she proved them wrong.

I really loved this book and I love Zora. She teaches me not to fall into a label. Be myself. She also teaches me to move on with my life. Love the here and now. Don't bottle up emotions from the past because i'm are only hurting yourself. If I ever write an autobiography I hope to produce something like this, not exactly like this, but clearly this book inspired me more than I thought. This book is get for independent thinking. ( )
  Ghost_Boy | Aug 25, 2022 |
Sometimes the author goes on extended tangents into a particular narrow topic that lost me. However, her humor and often biting, unapologetic views make up for it. ( )
  hissingpotatoes | Apr 7, 2022 |
I so loved Their Eyes Were Watching God that I was enthusiastic about reading the author's memoir. The first half of the book was stimulating and told the story of her early life well. I will say only that after that it was a struggle to hold my interest. However, there is much to consider and her writings and musings on religion, friendship and race were informative. I will be interested to hear from younger readers who have recently embraced ZNH. I captured a lot of quotes that I know will stick with me. One of my favorites for its humor is her commentary on reading trash sometimes rather than all erudite works.
I do not regret the trash. It has harmed me in no way. It was a help, because acquiring the reading habit early is the important thing. Taste and natural development will take care of the rest later on. ( )
  beebeereads | Jan 22, 2022 |
This pioneer was lost (really lost, in an unmarked grave) and then found by Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple. Writer, anthropologist, domestic worker, and sharp observer of relations between the races and genders in the '30s - 50's, she is best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston was also inclined to strong narratives about heterosexual relationships, as influenced by her non-affectionate mother, who died when she was only nine; a bitter physical war with her stepmother; and her two ex-husbands. Also included in this memoir are three essays that define her stance on "race men" - she did not believe that any race should ever be judged as a single entity, but only as individuals. Hurston was also a non-believer, putting her at great odds with her community of Eatonville, FL, the only incorporated all-Black town in the country. Her stirring writings on "My People! My People!" will be puzzling to modern readers, who will be surprised at her seeming lack of interest in social justice and in reparations. Fore and afterwords by Maya Angelou and Henry Gates Jr provide context but do not make excuses for Hurston's courting of wealthy white patrons. Hurston is a folk writer in two senses of the word - she writes beautifully and understands "common" folk and speaks so evocatively in the vernacular of working class and poor people. Her loss of literati favor and her eventual obscurity are painful to discover, as surely it was for Hurston, perhaps due to falling out of favor with the white editors who helped her get started, and to her disagreements with other Black writers such as Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. This is as strong a coming-of-age story as has ever been told.

Quotes: “My grandmother glared at me like open-faced hell and snorted: I vominates a lying tongue.”

“There is an age when children are fit company for spirits. Before they have absorbed too many of earthly things to be able to fly with the unseen things that soar.”

“Rome, the eternal city, meant two different things to my parents. To Mama, it meant you must build it today so it could last through eternity. To Papa, it meant that you could plan to lay some bricks today and you have the rest of eternity to finish it. With all time, why hurry? God had made more time than anything else, anyway. Why act so stingy about it?”

“You cannot have knowledge and worship at the same time. Mystery is the essence of the divine. Gods must keep their distance from men.”

“I was careful to do my classwork. I felt the ladder under my feet.”

“It is one of the tragedies of life that one cannot have all the wisdom one is ever to possess in the beginning. “

“There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”

“Niagara Falls was just like watching the ocean jump off Pike’s Peak.” ( )
  froxgirl | Jan 15, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 16 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Zora Neale Hurstonprimary authorall editionscalculated
Angelou, MayaIntroductionsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
Boyd, ValerieContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.Editorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Sherman, BeatriceContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Strong, PhilContributorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Gleich scheinbar totem, kaltem Gestein trage ich in mir die Spuren der Materie, die einst daranging, mich zu machen.
Like the dead-seeming, cold rocks, I have memories within that came out of the materials that went to make me. Time and place have had their say.
[Foreword] There is an eerie, sometimes pathetic, ofttimes beautiful urge that prevails in Black American lore, lyrics and literature.
Quotations
"Light came to me when I realized that I did not have to consider any racial group as a whole. God made them duck by duck and that was the only way I could see them. I learned that skins were no measure of what was inside people. So none of the Race cliché meant anything anymore. I began to laugh at both white and black who claimed special blessings on the basis of race. Therefore I saw no curse in being black, nor no extra flavor by being white."
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Biography & Autobiography. African American Nonfiction. Nonfiction. HTML:

"Warm, witty, imaginative. . . . This is a rich and winning book."â??The New Yorker

From Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most important African American writers of the twentieth century, comes her riveting autobiographyâ??now available in a limited Olive Edition.

First published in 1942 at the height of her popularity, Dust Tracks on a Road is Zora Neale Hurston's candid, funny, bold, and poignant autobiographyâ??an imaginative and exuberant account of her childhood in the rural South and her rise to a prominent place among the leading artists and intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance.

As compelling as her acclaimed fiction, Hurston's very personal literary self-portrait offers a revealing, often audacious glimpse into the lifeâ??public and privateâ??of an extraordinary artist, anthropologist, chronicler, and champion of the Black experience in America. Full of the wit and wisdom of a proud, spirited woman who started off low and climbed high, Dust Tracks on a Road is a rare treasure from one of literature's most cherish

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