Abstract
WHILE the reader of this book may not feel constrained toendorse fully the publisher's exuberant statement that itis the most wonderful collection of folk-lore in the world, it will be admitted that it is a remarkable production, which gives an illuminating view of negro society in the southern United States. The book, indeed, is noteworthy because it is arecord of negro mentality by one of themselves, who is also a trained anthropologist. Miss Hurston, who is a pupil of Prof. Franz Boas of Columbia University, after graduation elected to take up negro folk-lore as a subject of research, andchose her own home town in Florida as the starting point of her investigation. The narrative of her experiences in search of material is rich in vivid detail and characteristic touches, interspersed with sermons, songs, music and stories, in which humour, religion and unconscious irreverence are closely interwoven.
Mules and Men
By Zora Neale Hurston. Pp. 343. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1936.) 12s. 6d. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mules and Men. Nature 137, 683 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137683c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137683c0