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 Clemmons
Jean 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.
