Toomer, Jean

Toomer, Jean, 1894–1967, American writer, b. Washington, D.C., as Nathan Eugene Toomer. A major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, he is known mainly for Cane (1923, rev. ed. 1988, 2011), a collection of stories, poems, and sketches about African-American life in rural Georgia and the urban North. He also wrote other poetry, essays, and plays.

See biography by R. Eldridge and C. E. Kerman (1987); N. Y. McKay, Jean Toomer, Artist (1984); G. Fabre, Jean Toomer and the Harlem Renaissance (2000).

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