Global InformationSeraph on the Suwanee information
 First edition cover | |
| Author | Zora Neale Hurston |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical Fiction |
| Publisher | Scribner's |
Publication date | October 11, 1948 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print Hardcover |
Seraph on the Suwanee is a 1948 novel by African-American novelist Zora Neale Hurston. It follows the life of a White woman and the fraught relationship she has with her husband and family.
The novel is noteworthy for its exploration of "white crackers" in Florida. Despite being her only White novel, Hurston's intention was to depict the linguistic and cultural similarities between White and Black people living in the South.[1] However, Seraph on the Suwanee has never been well received by African-American critics and scholars, who have often treated the novel as a "contrivance in Hurston's canon".[2]
It is Hurston's last published novel, and is the only novel by Hurston about White characters. It was written after her publisher rejected two novels about Black characters. She was eventually able to get the novel published by Scribner's.
- ^ Hurston, Zora Neale (2008). Carby, Hazel V. (ed.). Seraph on the Suwanee. New York: Harper Perennial. pp. viii–ix. ISBN 978-0-06-097359-9.
- ^ Tate, Claudia (January 1, 1997). "Hitting 'A Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick': Seraph on the Suwanee, Zora Neale Hurston's Whiteface Novel". Discourse. 19 (2): 72–87. JSTOR 41389445.