Zora Neale Hurston is widely-known and highly-regarded as the author of the ground-breaking novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. However, Hurston was also a prolific short story writer. In fact, many of the themes that Hurston explored in Their Eyes Were Watching God had their genesis in her short stories. In this reading series, we will read and discuss several of Hurston’s short stories: “The Conscious of the Court,” “The Gilded Six Bits,” and “Sweat.” We will study the stories with a focus on the significance of the recurring themes and motifs to Hurston’s writing and Hurston’s unique contribution to the African American literary tradition.
Reader Series classes take you on a deep dive into a specific topic or author to gain a more advanced understanding of literature and the world. Experienced instructors will provide history, context, and analysis, and guide in-depth discussion that will help make you an instant expert in a single subject or author's body of work.
Each participant can decide how they choose to engage with the classes. You can read the books ahead of time, read them as the class progresses, or read them after the class has concluded. No matter your level of prior knowledge, you will receive a wealth of materials and insights in a condensed period, like a master class or a great course, only right here in Cleveland.
Instructor: Dr. Brenda R. Smith is a Kent State University Associate Professor Emerita, English. During her tenure at Kent State University at Stark, she taught American, African American, women’s, and modernist literatures, and freshman composition. Dr. Smith earned both her B.A. in English and her Ph.D. in American and African American literatures from Case Western Reserve University. She earned her M.A. in American literature from Cleveland State University. Her dissertation, The Construction of Bi-Cultural Subjectivity in African American Migrant Autobiography, which earned her Case Western Reserve University’s distinguished Neil McIntyre Memorial Essay Award and Kent State University’s Regional Campus Professional Development Award, explored the relationship between African Americans’ involuntary immigration to and voluntary migration within the United States and the formation of American subjectivity. Her current research includes the trans-ethnic study of autobiography and the construction of American subjectivity, and the evolution of the Bildungsroman literary form in African American women’s writing. Dr. Smith, a native Clevelander, currently resides in Twinsburg, Ohio. She is married and has two daughters.---Details: Reader Series: The Short Stories of Zora Neale Hurston takes place Saturdays May 6, May 20, June 3, and June 17 from 12:00-1:30pm remotely online via Zoom.Prerequisites: NoneGenre: Fiction-Reader SeriesLevel: All levelsFormat: This is a reader series course.Location: This class takes place remotely online via Zoom.Size: Limited to 12 participants (including scholarships).Scholarships: Two scholarship spots are available for this class for writers in Northeast Ohio. Apply by April 24.Cancellations & Refunds: Cancel at least 48 hours in advance of the first class meeting to receive a full refund. Email info@litcleveland.org.
