Cane
Books | Fiction / African American & Black / General
3.6
(104)
Jean Toomer
The Harlem Renaissance writer's innovative and groundbreaking novel depicting African American life in the South and North, with a foreword by National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree Zinzi ClemmonsJean Toomer's Cane is one of the most significant works to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, and is considered to be a masterpiece in American modernist literature because of its distinct structure and style. First published in 1923 and told through a series of vignettes, Cane uses poetry, prose, and play-like dialogue to create a window into the varied lives of African Americans living in the rural South and urban North during a time when Jim Crow laws pervaded and racism reigned. While critically acclaimed and known today as a pioneering text of the Harlem Renaissance, the book did not gain as much popularity as other works written during the period. Fellow Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes believed Cane's lack of a wider readership was because it didn't reinforce the stereotypes often associated with African Americans during the time, but portrayed them in an accurate and entirely human way, breaking the mold and laying the groundwork for how African Americans are depicted in literature. For the first time in Penguin Classics, this edition of Cane features a new introduction, suggestions for further reading, and notes by scholar George Hutchinson, and National Book Award Foundation 5 Under 35 novelist Zinzi Clemmons contributes a foreword.
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More Details:
Author
Jean Toomer
Pages
224
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2019-01-08
ISBN
0525505466 9780525505464
Community ReviewsSee all
"This book is a mash of short stories and poems from the Harlem renaissance that all seemed to feature the word cane somewhere within their text. Toomer writes about the beauty found in the female form, and often compares that beauty, to the beauty of nature found in the south. There is a longing to possess the women in these stories as objects, as if they are not individuals with their own thoughts and dreams. The book touches on the discrimination and hatred projected at individuals for breaking away from the "norm", like <i> becky</i> the white woman with two black sons who is shunned and disregarded from her community until she dies. Each of the women are living their lives on their terms, setting an example for what should come next as a society. Each of the characters in the book seem to be created by the fictions about certain types of people; the loose woman, the jealous lover, the friend-zoned male, the Northern man, etc... its almost as if they are divided into stereotypes of humans and slaves to the roles society expects of them. The stories are charged with bitterness and indignation about the structure of society while also celebrating the joys of black life."
Nicole Falche
"Yeah, this really didn't do it for me. I can admire the language and the historical detail but it was an effort to read, not helped by the print copy I read - tiny type and the left page more or less going into the central binding. The story structure felt modern at times but never engaged me."
John Woakes
