佐拉•尼爾•赫斯頓（1891-1960），美國黑人女作傢，被譽為“南方的天纔”。在美國第一個黑人小城伊頓維爾，赫斯頓度過瞭無憂無慮的童年；1918年進入霍華德大學就讀文學係，1925年來到黑人文學的中心紐約，開始創作生涯，並成為哈萊姆文藝復興運動的活躍分子。

赫斯頓畢生緻力於保持黑人文化傳統、探尋黑人完整的生命價值。她收集整理瞭黑人民間故事集《騾與人》、《告訴我的馬》，還寫作瞭四部小說：《他們眼望上蒼》、《約拿的葫蘆藤》、《摩西，山之人》、《蘇旺尼的六翼天使》，一部自傳《大路上的塵跡》，以及一些短篇小說。

赫斯頓在小說中大量使用黑人口語，以詩一般的語言去錶達黑人語言之美。她的作品並不著眼於種族鬥爭，而是緻力於錶現：同其他人種一樣，黑人也擁有生活的豐富性和對幸福的追求，也會麵對生活中必然存在的不幸和悲劇。

"Their Eyes Were Watching God, " an American classic, is a luminous and haunting novel about Janie Crawford, a Southern black woman in the 1930s whose journey from a free-spirited girl to a woman of independence and substance has inspired writers and readers for close to seventy years.This poetic, graceful love story, rooted in black folk traditions and steeped in mythic realism, celebrates, boldly and brilliantly, African-American culture and heritage. And in a powerful, mesmerizing narrative, it pays quiet tribute to a black woman, who, though constricted by the times, still demanded to be heard.Originally published in 1937, "Their Eyes Were Watching God" met significant commercial but divided critical acclaim. Somewhat forgotten after her death, Zora Neale Hurston was rediscovered by a number of black authors in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and reintroduced to a greater readership by Alice Walker in her 1972 essay "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston," written for Ms. magazine. Long out of print, the book was reissued after a petition was circulated at the Modern Language Association Convention in 1975, and nearly three decades later Their Eyes Were Watching God is considered a seminal novel of American fiction.With a new foreword by the celebrated novelist Edwidge Danticat -- author of "Eyes, Breath, Memory; The Farming of Bones;" and "Krik?Krak " -- this edition of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" commemorates the singular, inimitable voice in America's literary canon and highlights its unusual publication history.