The Frame

by Zora Neale Hurston

Or, Exodus According to Zora Neale Hurston. Thing number one: Hurston was a religious skeptic. Thing number two: Hurston was an anthropologist, especially interested in folk culture (all folk cultures). Thing number three: Hurston liked to deal with racism and slavery obliquely. Thing number four: She hoped that Moses, Man of the Mountain would be her masterpiece. It didn’t turn out quite so well as she’d hoped, but you can definitely see all these things in it. Moses in her story is probably Egyptian rather than Hebrew, but that’s left ambiguous; however, he is definitely a magician, almost in a voodoo sense. He may or may not have really heard the voice of God on Mount Sinai–the important thing is that he convinced the people of Israel that he did. The fascinating thing about the book is how closely she does stick with the events of the Biblical narrative, but manipulates the motivations or just enough of the minor details to give it a wholly different spin.
Well Above Average