{"product_id":"jean-toomer-writer-for-a-new-america-hardcover","title":"Jean Toomer: Writer for a New America - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGeorge Hutchinson\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA critical biography of Harlem Renaissance writer Jean Toomer and his lifelong struggle to transcend race, by an award-winning author\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The poet and novelist Jean Toomer (1894-1967) was among the most influential figures of the Harlem Renaissance, inspiring generations of Black writers with his 1923 modernist masterwork \u003ci\u003eCane\u003c\/i\u003e. Yet his mission was to awaken Americans to the formation of a new \"American\" race that would supersede the \"old\" racial categories. Award-winning biographer George Hutchinson reveals how Toomer's racial theory shaped both his literary genius and his personal struggles. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Born into the Black elite in Washington, D.C., Toomer was highly sensitive to the color line and able to move across it. Toomer engaged in a lifelong struggle to be released from this system, reinventing himself racially, spiritually, and artistically not as a Black man but as a \"superman.\" From his early attraction to physical culture through his search for Cosmic Consciousness, Toomer aspired to shape a new modern sensibility alongside his bohemian contemporaries Georgia O'Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen. Yet his refusal to identify as Black, in tandem with his messianic calling, came at the cost of his literary career and the women who loved him. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Hutchinson shows how the tortures of American racism shaped Toomer's life--and how the struggle to birth a new \"American\" identity marks his art.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGeorge Hutchinson\u003c\/b\u003e is the Newton C. Farr Professor of American Culture and the George Reed Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Cornell University. He is the award-winning author of several books, including \u003ci\u003eIn Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line\u003c\/i\u003e and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated \u003ci\u003eThe Harlem Renaissance in Black and White\u003c\/i\u003e. He is editor of the Penguin Classics edition of Jean Toomer's \u003ci\u003eCane\u003c\/i\u003e. Hutchinson lives in Trumansburg, NY.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 344\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.16 x 9.71 x 6.17 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 18, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48900111237369,"sku":"9780300267730","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/in5IPM3ldo9780300267730.webp?v=1787738124","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/jean-toomer-writer-for-a-new-america-hardcover","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}