Product Description

Considered to be a masterpiece of the Harlem Renaissance, a brief period during the 1920s, this book consists of sketches, poems and stories of rural and urban black African life that evoke images of smoke, sugar-cane, dusk and flame in the southern landscape, while the northern world is pictured as a harsher reality of asphalt streets.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104376 in Books
• Published on: 1994-02-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

Cane is my favorite book, ever
Alice Walker once said of Cane that she "could not possibly exist without it." I feel the same way. This is the most glorious, complex, heartwrenchingly beautiful collection of poems and prose that I have ever encountered. Toomer was a lyrical, insightful writer. He was someone who understood and could convey pain. Whatever racial classification people may settle upon, it is clear that Toomer was influenced by the black experience in the U.S. -- Cane reads like jazz sometimes, like blues at other times, and every once in awhile like gospel; in any case it is musical, rhythmic, and it gets to your soul.

"the question of toomer's race"
Toomer considered race arbitrary. Above all, he considered himself an American. Read this book; or, if nothing else, at least read "Blood-Burning Moon" to experience some extremely intense prose.

A wonderful little book with great insight
This is perhaps one of my favorite works of literature I've ever read. This piece of literature uses poetry and short stories to portray the vast experiences of Afican-Americans in America. This novel (of sorts) opens your eyes and does so subtly and beautifully through various characters and the experiences they go through or fight against. Although written over fify years ago, Toomer's work relates well to the problems/concerns of race in America today. I feel this should be a required work in studying Modern American Literature and the African-American Experience. If there is a firm "canon" ever established, this should be included.