At both 2014’s Modernist Studies Association conference, and 2015’s MLA convention, I gave talks about Jean Toomer’s 1926 novel Cane–in particular, about the curious “Bona and Paul” chapter, which was amongst the first pieces of the story cycle novel Toomer wrote, but appears midway through the book.
Anyways, the content of those talks, and more, appear in a piece that’s in this collection that’s now out (and even in some libraries!).
It’s an interesting and eclectic collection, and I think part of the important work it unwittingly performs is to reveal how different the British and American literary canons are. That is, for the UK-based editors of this collection, Toomer is a writer well outside the common canon, whereas in the states he’s often taught to undergrads.
While my home campus library isn’t (yet) stocking the book, in a moment of sheer academic nerdiness I nearly Interlibrary Loaned a copy from UCLA, just so I could see myself in print.
Nissa Ren Cannon 