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Cane (novel)
&sq=crain_ford&lang=en&file=File:Question_book-new.svg){kind=small} | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2008) |
&sq=crain_ford&lang=en&file=File:Canejeantoomer.jpg) First edition (Publ. Boni and Liveright) | |
| Author | Jean Toomer |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Boni and Liveright |
Publication date | 1923 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 239 p. |
| ISBN | 9780871405357 |
| OCLC | 168697 |
Cane is a 1923 novel by noted Harlem Renaissance author Jean Toomer. The novel is structured as a series of vignettes revolving around the origins and experiences of African Americans in the United States. The vignettes alternate in structure between narrative prose, poetry, and play-like passages of dialogue. As a result, the novel has been classified as a composite novel or as a short story cycle. Though some characters and situations recur in different vignettes, the vignettes are mostly freestanding, tied to the other vignettes thematically and contextually more than through specific plot details.
The novel's ambitious and unconventional structure, along with its lasting impact on subsequent generations of writers, has contributed to the recognition of Cane as an important part of modernism.[1] Some of the vignettes from the novel have been extracted and included in literary collections, while the poetic passage "Harvest Song" has been featured in multiple Norton poetry anthologies. The poem begins with the evocative line: "I am a reaper whose muscles set at sundown."[2]
- ^ As of March 2008, there were more than 100 scholarly articles on the book at the MLA Database.
- ^ Toomer, Jean (May 10, 2018). "Harvest Song". Poetry Foundation.
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