Jean Toomer
I was first introduced to the Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer in graduate school, when I read his masterpiece Cane (1923), for the first time. Many claim that Whitman or Thoreau capture the American spirit, and they do in their own way. Some claim that James or Dreiser embody a particular ‘American’ spirit not found in European writers, and they are right as well. But for me: Toomer is all of these and more. Toomer captures and presents a raw, unrefined side of the American sensibility that even Whitman fails to notice.
Again, like Büchner or Mrozek in Europe, Toomer’s characters are the poor and the dispossessed. His leading ladies are often whores or the victims of rape and abuse. His men are filled with a genetic sense of rage and have great ability and potential. Yet, they are powerless and unimportant. And more so than any of my other literary heroes, Toomer is a true poetic master of the language.
Cane is a poem and a novel, a play and an essay all in one hundred pages. His poetry is lush and rich, so juicy that it drips from your mouth.
Good Jean Toomer Pages: http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/toomer/jean-toomer.html