In one of the stories ("Going Wodwo", unless I am mistaken), Gaiman mentions a Zora Neale Hurston essay about little girls that went from door to door selling coffee in Haiti--the rumors being that they were zombies under the control of an old woman.

I'm wondering whether anyone has heard of this essay, and knows its name. As an anthropological auto-didact, I'm really interested in reading it--but none of my searches have so far paid off.

Could you check in about what books of hers you have already checked? I'm not going to spend time duplicating your efforts. For example, have you read her 1938 Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica? 1935's Mules and Men? 1931's Hoodoo in America?

Where did you research? What country are you in? Did you use the electronic databases in your local library (or university library if you are in school)? She was published in The Journal of American Folklore so that's a good place to start with a librarian and a good periodical index.

There's a more recent collection of her essays (1995) titled Folklore, Memoirs, & Other Writings: Mules and Men, Tell My Horse, Dust Tracks on a Road , edited by Cheryl A. Wall. Any luck with that one?

quote:

Originally posted by Thrasymachus:
In one of the stories ("Going Wodwo", unless I am mistaken),

You are mistaken. Going Wodwo is a poem, the story is Bitter Grounds.