{"product_id":"imitation-of-life-fannie-hurst-9780822333241","title":"Imitation of Life","description":"A bestseller in 1933, and subsequently adapted into two beloved and controversial films, \u003ci\u003eImitation of Life\u003c\/i\u003e has played a vital role in ongoing conversations about race, femininity, and the American Dream. Bea Pullman, a white single mother, and her African American maid, Delilah Johnston, also a single mother, rear their daughters together and become business partners. Combining Bea's business savvy with Delilah's irresistible southern recipes, they build an Aunt Jemima-like waffle business and an international restaurant empire. Yet their public success brings them little happiness. Bea is torn between her responsibilities as a businesswoman and those of a mother; Delilah is devastated when her light-skinned daughter, Peola, moves away to pass as white. \u003ci\u003eImitation of Life\u003c\/i\u003e struck a chord in the 1930s, and it continues to resonate powerfully today.\u003cp\u003eThe author of numerous bestselling novels, a masterful short story writer, and an outspoken social activist, Fannie Hurst was a major celebrity in the first half of the twentieth century. Daniel Itzkovitz's introduction situates \u003ci\u003eImitation of Life\u003c\/i\u003e in its literary, biographical, and cultural contexts, addressing such topics as the debates over the novel and films, the role of Hurst's one-time secretary and great friend Zora Neale Hurston in the novel's development, and the response to the novel by Hurst's friend Langston Hughes, whose one-act satire, \"Limitations of Life\" (which reverses the races of Bea and Delilah), played to a raucous Harlem crowd in the late 1930s. This edition brings a classic of popular American literature back into print.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Fannie Hurst\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0822333244\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822333241\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Duke University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/07\/2004\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 352\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.86lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.04h x 5.54w x 0.85d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUniv PR Books for Public Libry\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2005 pg. 75 - Recommended\/Special Interest\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2005 pg. 126","brand":"Fannie Hurst","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43994920157439,"sku":"9780822333241","price":28.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e3fe5e7d-e682-4243-9058-ce5ef8dbb69c.jpg?v=1683332955","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/imitation-of-life-fannie-hurst-9780822333241","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}