Anthropologist, folklorist and novelist,
Zora Neale Hurston is one of the most acclaimed writers
of the Harlem Renaissance. Because of her Southern
heritage and her attentive, trained ear, she had a
unique access to the language of her people, which
she re-created in dialogue. In “Sweat,”
set like many of Hurston’s works in Eatonville,
Florida, Delia Jones is tormented by her husband,
Sykes. When Sykes’ own cruelty turns on him,
Delia is the only one who might save him from death.
