ABSTRACT
Half a paragraph later, the Introduction states that "The Color Purple stands as yet another monument to Hurston" (p. 15). Walker laid a stone, inscribed "A Genius of the South," by Hurston's grave. Here, Pryse connects the 1982 novel to that stone. In this configuration Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel would serve to glorify Hurston. The relationship is thus construed in two opposite ways: in one, Hurston is a first draft for Walker; in the other, Walker is a secondary reflection of Hurston. These two versions of the relationship bespeak a tension, if not a paradox, absolutely central to the literary tradition Pryse would portray, a tradition which would honor the mother, but which also surpasses the mother precisely in its ability to "go home to look for mother."
