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The Lives of Jean Toomer: A Hunger for Wholeness

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I have not read any of Jean Toomer's work as of yet, only articles, some of his poems and this book about his life. The authors try to keep Toomer's varied accomplishments in perspective. They aim to correct misunderstandings regarding Toomer's position on race and offer his concept of the "universal man"; as one beyond racial boundaries. They also look closely at Toomer's inclination toward mysticism and spirituality. The authors find that Toomer's intense need to be perfect and whole gave focus to the many passions he embraced throughout his life. Jean's self-description in 1922 was as follows:

"Racially, I seem to have (who knows for sure) seven blood mixtures: French, Dutch, Welsh, Negro, German, Jewish, and Indian. One half of my family is definitely colored.... And, I alone, as far as I know, have striven for a spiritual fusion analogous to the fact of racial intermingling."

Later in his life, about 1948, when he is plagued with illness, there remains continual unresolved problems with the black heritage of his racial make-up (his daughter Marjery was not informed of any of her racial heritage). He then says of himself:

"I do not really know myself, who I am, my selfhood, my spiritual identity, or what I am. I have some information about it, but also some misinformation, some misunderstanding, but much illusion. Real motivations? What is my aim, assuming that I have but one aim? I do not really know my wife, my child, my closest friends. I do not know anyone or anything."

I feel Jean Toomer was a man who was troubled by his heritage. He may have been better off to make a choice than to spend his life searching and hoping for a different world where race didn't matter. Although, I also feel that Jean was a head of his time in his thinking when he states that the racial issue in America would be resolved only when white America could accept the fact that its racial 'purity' was a myth...On the other hand, racial purity among blacks was just as much a myth and only encouraged defensiveness and unconscious imitation, like that of an adolescent who defines his revolt against his parents by the very values he is trying to renounce. Race, he said, was a fictional construct, of no use for understanding people."

It's true that whites are not pure, blacks are not pure, and race is a social (fictional) construct, now proven by science, but realistically physical appearance still determines for the most part what race a person is assumed to be, so therefore troubled times still remain in mixed-race cultures where some have not, as of yet, grasped this thinking.

Physically white, and he had every right to identify as such, but racially mixed, he just couldn't make a choice in a society that sees colors not just beings, brought to mind by his poem titled, "People." Toomer did not define himself as an African American but as an American. Toomer's lifelong effort to transcend what he regarded as the narrow divisions of race is fully explored in his works. Toomer's position on race is the principal reason for the absence of racial themes in his writings produced during and after his discovery of Gurdjieff and Quakerism, as well as for his conscious disassociation from Cane: the work that has earned him a central place in the African American literary tradition. A place he didn't really seem to want to be, despite his concept of the "universal man"; as one beyond racial boundaries.

Toomer's philosophy was a wonderful notion, but not realistic. In not telling his daughter about her ancestry, continuously marrying white, and in most of his pursuits, it seems he lived more of a white life despite his refusal to conform to a racial classification.

Jean has been both praised and condemned by black critics and authors. He did what he felt was best on the surface, but not necessarily what was best for his inner being.

This is a good book about an interesting man.

The authors make it clear that Toomer rejected the racist ideologies of both 'blackness' and 'whiteness':

"And he had lived among blacks, among whites, among Jews, and in groups organized without racial labels around a shared interest such as literature or psychology, moving freely from any one of these groups to any other. One mark of membership in the 'colored' group, he said, was acceptance of the 'color line' with its attendant expectations; neither his family nor he had ever been so bound. To be in the white group would also imply the exclusion of the other."

It's a great book!

This is a great book focusing on a man who had the courage to reject society's efforts to impose a "racial" identity upon him. He steadfastly refused to be labeled "colored" (black) or "white" and considered classification the nemesis of mankind, a reflection of intellectual empty-headedness. A quote from the book: "Thus Toomer propounded the rather unpopular view that the racial issue in America would be resolved only when white America could accept the fact that its racial 'purity' was a myth, that indeed its racial isolation produced blandness and lack of character. On the other hand, racial purity among blacks was just as much a myth and only encouraged defensiveness and unconscious imitation, like that of an adolescent who defines his revolt against his parents by the very values he is trying to renounce. Race, he said, was a fictional construct, of no use for understanding people." We need more people like Jean Toomer today!

This is one of the best books I have ever read! Because I am a huge fan of CANE, I had to read this bio of Toomer. It is very detailed, very insightful, and provides a full view of Toomer and his family, leaving it to the reader to make a judgement about The Toomer family and Jean Toomer. I feel Toomer was a genius, and yes he was an egomaniac, but who cares? He was sensitive and spiritual and sexual and hungry for understanding and all those qualities come across in CANE and in this bio. Interestingly enough, his detatchment from blackness makes him more interesting because he forces you to think outside the box. [After all, the Black race is the only one in the US history to be said to hinge on "one drop" which is pretty ridiculous. "One drop" was a tool to keep lightskinned blacks from getting access to the money of their fathers.] I only wish Toomer could have written 1 or 2 more books in the vein of CANE.