Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a totally fascinating peek into the old South of the 30s. Half travel memoir and half folklore catalogue, it’s never boring and it really seems to give a sense of what things were like in the places she visited. The first half is Ms. Hurston gathering stories around Florida. It’s full of Brer Dog and the Devil and John and the Lord and Ole Massa, intercut with the day-to-day life of the little towns and logging camps around Polk County. The second half is all about Hoodoo and takes place in New Orleans, and in place of stories she’s recorded all sorts of spells practiced by the conjurers she studied under. It’s hard not to believe in some of the things she says she saw and heard of.

In particular I want to highlight the book’s ending, which is deeply strange and mysterious, and not at all how you expect either a collection of folklore or a travel memoir to end.



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