The Black American Short Story in the 20th Century

by Peter Bruck

  It end s a perio d o f estrangemen t o r anomy , a s th e sociologis t

  would cal l it. Huma n being s seem t o posses s this faculty o f bridg-

  ing a ga p tha t ma y hav e laste d fo r centuries . I n "Fern " Toome r

  has only hinted at the innate psychic possibilities, on other occasions

  the peopl e i n hi s stories bring to bea r o n thei r problems this very

  faculty an d conjur e u p thei r Africa n heritage : jujumen, greegree ,

  and witchdoctors.

  As th e swee t momen t o f unio n ends , wit h th e narrato r agai n

  ignorant o f how h e brought th e en d about , Fer n run s away fro m

  him an d int o th e darkness , he r bod y painfull y shake n b y some -

  thing it ca n not le t out . Th e embodimen t o f al l things Negro and

  at th e sam e time someone who has become a virgin, Fern is unable

  to giv e birth i n clea r speech t o th e qualitie s she encompasses. She

  seeks releas e i n song , i n "plaintive , convulsiv e sounds , mingle d

  with call s to Chris t Jesus, " (p. 32) not unlik e th e vocal pieces we

  are use d t o cal l Negro Spirituals . When he find s he r sh e faint s i n

  his arms.

  The epilogu e i s a n attemp t a t ironicall y de-emphazin g an d in -

  tellectually counteractin g th e narrator' s stron g emotional involve-

  ment i n a n overpowerin g encounte r with a Negro girl from a small

  town somewher e i n the South. Nothing ever came to Fern, he tells

  us. At that high-pitched moment with Fern in the canefield h e had

  used these same words and maintained that when one is on the soil

  of one' s ancestors , most anythin g ca n com e t o one . However, for

  64

  both hi m an d her , th e soi l o f th e ancestor s is in Africa . Cleverl y

  he disclaim s his spiritual engagemen t an d step s in th e lin e of men

  who would do some fine unnamed thing for Fern .

  After th e commercia l failur e o f Cane Toomer di d no t simpl y

  stop writing . An d h e di d publis h som e storie s i n magazine s and

  anthologies.35 Bu t hi s full-lengt h work s wer e al l rejecte d b y th e

  publishers. Th e year s 192 4 an d 192 5 ar e reporte d t o hav e been

  sterile fo r Jea n Toome r a s a n artist . Spiritually , however , thes e

  same year s mus t hav e bee n richl y stimulating . I n 192 4 h e me t

  George Ivanovitc h Gurdjieff , wh o had founde d hi s "Institut pour

  Ie développemen t Harmonieu x d e l'Homme" i n Fontaineblea u

  near Pari s an d attracte d quit e a numbe r o f th e elit e o f Western

  Europe.36 Katherin e Mansfield , anothe r disciple of Gurdjieffs ha d

  died a t th e institut e a yea r befor e Toome r cam e ther e t o b e

  initiated. O n his return t o Ne w York Toome r bega n proselytizing

  among thos e o f hi s forme r associate s who were willing to listen .

  Out o f th e pe n o f th e champio n o f th e lowe r classes , Langsto n

  Hughes, we have a rather unfriendly accoun t of Toomer's missionary

  profession.37

  When in 192 9 the stock market collapsed the Negro Renaissance

  came t o a n abrup t en d almos t overnight . It s author s dispersed ,

  went o n a longis h holiday , lik e Langsto n Hughes , stayed i n thei r

  European exile , lik e Claud e McKay , o r returned , lik e Countée

  Cullen, t o teac h youn g Afro-American s Frenc h i n a Ne w Yor k

  High School . Incidentally , Jame s Baldwin was a pupil at Frederic k

  Douglas High Schoo l a t that same time and on one occasion wrote

  about an interview with Countée Cullen in the school paper.

  Jean Toomer , wh o in 192 7 ha d gon e t o liv e in Chicago, on the

  30th of October 193 1 married the white novelist Margery Latimer .

  Margery Latime r die d i n childbirt h a year later . When Toomer hit

  the headline again, it was a rather unfriendly repor t from TIME on

  his marriag e t o anothe r whit e woman , Marjori e Conten t Toomer ,

  in 1932. 38 Tw o years later th e coupl e move d to Doylestown, Pa.,

  where Toomer continue d t o writ e an d receiv e rejection slip s from

  the publishers . He did no t liv e to witnes s the Toome r renaissance

  of th e lat e sixtie s and earl y seventies. Toomer died on the 30th of

  March 1967 , two years before Cane was reissued as a paperback.

  65

  NOTES

  1. Rober t Bon e give s thi s figure i n his study The Negro Novel in America

  (New Haven, 1958), p. 81.

  "Fern" i s a n often-anthologize d story . Cf . e.g. , Langsto n Hughes , ed., The

  Best Short Stories by Negro Writers: An Anthology from 1899 to the Present

  (Boston & Toronto, 1967) . Francis E. Kearns, ed., The Black Experience: An

  Anthology of American Literature for the 1970s (New York, 1973). The best

  buy probably is the paperback edition of Cane (New York, 1969).

  2. Forewor d to the paperback edition of Cane (New York, 1969), p. x.

  3. Joh n M . Reilly, "Jea n Toomer : A n Annotated Checklis t of Criticism,"

  Resources for American Literary Study, 4 (1974), 27-56.

  4. Charle s E. Merrill Studies (Columbus, Ohio, 1971).

  5. Cf . Arn a Bontemps , "Th e Negr o Renaissance : Jea n Toome r an d th e

  Harlem Writers of the 1920's, " Anger, and Beyond: The Negro Writers in the

  United States, ed. by Herbert Hill (New York, 1966), p. 23.

  6. Wald o Frank , e.g. , i n hi s forewor d t o th e 192 3 editio n o f Cane. Th e

  Quotation i s fro m Arn a Bontemps ' "Th e Negr o Renaissance : Jea n Toomer

  and the Harlem Writers of the 1920's," p. 26.

  7. Ibid., p. 24 . On th e Harle m o r Negro Renaissance the following book s

  might b e consulted: Alai n Lero y Locke , ed., The New Negro: An Interpreta-

  tion (Ne w York , 1925) , repr . wit h a new introductio n b y Alla n H . Spear

  (New York, 1968) . Jea n Wagner, Les Poètes Nègres des Etats-Unis: Le senti-

  ment racial et religieux dans la poésie de P.L. Dunbar a L. Hughes 1890-1940

  (Paris, 1963); engl. transl . by Kennet h Douglas , Black Poets of the United

  States: From Paul Laurence Dunbar to Langston Hughes (Urbana, 1973).

  Gilbert Osofsky , Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto (New York, 1966). Nathan

  I. Huggins, Harlem Renaissance (New York, 1971).

  8. Cf . Mabe l M . Dillard, Jean Toomer: Herald of the Negro Renaissance

  (Ohio University, 1967) , p. 76.

  9. Lette r t o Nac y Cunard , Februar y 8 , 1932 , cf. Darwi n T . Turner , In a

  Minor Chord: Three Afro-American Writers and Their Search for Identity

  (Carbondale & Edwardsville, 1971) , p. 32.

  10. Cf . Richard Bardolph, The Negro Vanguard (New York, 1961), p. 204.

  11. Persona l communication fro m Mrs . Marjorie Conten t Toomer , to whom

  special thanks are due for untiring and continued cooperation.

  12. Jea n Toome r i n a letter t o Joh n McClure , June 30 , 1922, cf. Turner ,

  p. 30.

  13. Cf . Rayfor d W . Logan, The Betrayal of the Negro: From Rutherford B.

  Hayes to Woodrow Wilson (London, 1969).

  14. I n a letter t o Claude McKay, Summer 1922 , cf. th e introduction t o the

  paperback edition of Cane (New York, 1969), p. ix.

  15. I am giving these figures and most of the other details on the authority of

  66

  Darwin T . Turner' s In a Minor Chord. Prof . Turner' s biographical sketc h is

  the on e wit h the grea
tes t amoun t o f detaile d information . Anothe r depend -

  able source is Mabel M. Dillard's unpublished doctoral dissertation.

  16. Cf . the foreword to the paperback edition of Cane, p. ix.

  17. I n a letter date d June 30, 1922 , cf. Dillard , p. 11 . On the question of the

  prostitution o f th e integrit y o f aspirin g young Afro-American authors by the

  American readin g public, cf. Bontemps , "Jean Toomer and the Harlem Writers

  of the 1920's."

  18. Cf . The Oxford Companion to American Literature, ed . by James D.Hart

  (New York, 1965) , p. 485.

  19. Fo r a readabl e accoun t o f th e approac h t o th e stud y o f language s con-

  nected wit h the name of Noam Chomsky cf. Joh n Lyons, Chomsky (London ,

  1970).

  20. Th e exampl e i s from Roderic k A . Jacob s & Peter S . Rosenbaum , Trans-

  formationen: Stil und Bedeutung (Frankfur t a.M. , 1973) .

  21. Again , what I have in mind is not th e 'implie d reader ' of Wolfgan g Iser.

  Cf. hi s Der implizite Leser: Kommunikationsformen des Romans von Bunyan

  bis Beckett (München, 1972). Althoug h th e 'implie d reader ' is often calle d

  upon t o collaborate , h e i s a t th e sam e tim e bein g carefull y guide d i n hi s

  responses b y th e autho r an d h e alway s remain s withi n th e confine s o f th e

  fictitious worl d whic h th e narrato r has set up . This boundary mus t neve r be

  overstepped an d the reade r has no righ t t o interfer e wit h th e author' s plans,

  whereas Toomer readers are, as we shall see, expressly invited to do so.

  22. Cane, p. 30. All references in the text are to the paperback edition.

  23. Cf . Dillard , p . 48 . I t is not m y intentio n t o detrac t fro m Mis s Dillard's

  merit b y selectin g her fo r reference . Others , too, have reproduce d this error

  from a n earlie r source . An d besides , Mis s Dillard' s accoun t o f "Fern " i s

  among the best that has been written about this story to date.

  24. Cf . his review of Cane in The Crisis, February 1924 , p. 161.

  25. I t is important t o realiz e tha t Fer n does not remain a virgin. On the con-

  trary, sh e becomes a virgin . Ther e ar e undoubtedly reference s t o th e Blac k

  Madonna in Cane, but tha t seem s hardly enoug h reaso n to establis h a strong

  tie betwee n Fer n and the Virgi n Mary . Since , a s I have pointed out earlier, it

  is no t warrante d t o sa y tha t Fer n is of mixe d parentag e either , I cannot se e

  how a specific Jewis h geniu s for sufferin g (whateve r tha t is ; a very frivolou s

  term i t seem s t o me ) coul d b e sai d t o b e displaye d b y th e heroine. I n his

  latest boo k o n the history o f Afro-America n shor t fiction Robert Bone has a

  fine interpretation of 'Fern' in the chapter on Toomer, and I agree with almost

  everything he say s about th e story . However , Prof . Bon e state s that "no one

  who ha s no t mad e hi s pilgrimag e t o Nashville " (Fis k Universit y i.e. , wher e

  the Toome r manuscript s wer e deposite d i n 1967 ) "ca n expec t t o b e take n

  seriously a s a Toome r critic. " Cf. Rober t Bone , Down Home: A History of

  Afro-American Short Fiction from Its Beginnings to the End of the Harlem

  67

  Renaissance (New York , 1975) , p . 204 . Fo r obviou s reason s an d ou t o f

  theoretical considerations the present author has seen fit to adopt an approach

  that looks upon the work of art as a more or less self-contained unity .

  26. Cf . Hargi s Westerfield , "Jea n Toomer's 'Fern' . A Mythical Dimension, "

  CLA Journal 14 (1971), pp. 274-276.

  27. Cf . hi s "Remark s a t th e America n Academ y o f Art s and Science s Con-

  ference o n th e Negr o American, " New Black Voices: An Anthology of Con-

  temporary Afro-American Literature, ed . by Abraha m Chapma n (New York,

  1972), pp. 401408.

  28. Part s one an d three ar e of exactl y equa l lengt h if th e printe d line i s the

  unit to be counted. Part two surpasses them by something like a third.

  29. T o my knowledge Mable Dillard was the first to have noticed this. Cf. her

  doctoral dissertation, p. 50. In addition we have Jean Toomer's own testimony

  in a letter t o Wald o Fran k ca . 1922 : "I n my ow n stuff , i n thos e piece s tha t

  come neares t to the old Negro, to the spirit saturate with folksong: 'Karintha'

  and 'Fern, ' the dominan t emotio n is a sadness derived from a sense of fading,

  from a knowledge o f m y futilit y t o chec k colution. " Cf. Dillard , p. 19. Mrs.

  Marjorie Conten t Toome r feel s certain that her husband was not aware of the

  meaning o f fer n a s an adjective i n Germa n (personal communication). An in-

  terlingual pla y o n word s is thus out o f th e question . I f the girl' s name mus t

  have a n interpretation a t all , two ways are open: The name might be taken as

  an indicato r o f th e seemin g preponderance o f th e vegetativ e i n Fern' s exist-

  ence. Suc h a n interpretatio n woul d probabl y g o int o th e nicetie s o f repro-

  duction i n th e lif e o f a fern, which properly belong s in a botany handbook ,

  despite certai n parallel s in the plo t o f ou r story. O r it migh t b e understood ,

  on th e basi s of th e Jewis h component , as a hint at how "th e Negro is in solu-

  tion, in the proces s o f solution . As an entity, the race is loosing its body, and

  its soul i s approaching a common soul. " Jean Toomer in an undated letter to

  Waldo Frank, ca. 1922. Cf. Dillard, p. 19.

  30. C.S . Lewis , The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition (Ne w

  York, 1958), p. 45.

  31. Davi d Littlejohn , "Befor e Nativ e Son: Th e Renaissanc e an d After, "

  Studies in Cane, compiled by Frank Durham (Columbus, Ohio, 1971), p. 101.

  32. Rober t Bon e ha s drawn attention t o the fact that Toomer was admitted-

  ly an d heavily influence d b y Sherwoo d Anderson' s Winesburg, Ohio. Thi s is

  undeniably so . At th e same tim e i t should be noticed that Toomer was, from

  a very earl y date , rather critical o f Anderson' s artisti c capabilities. In a letter

  to Wald o Fran k (ca . 1922 ) he remarks: "Sherwood Anderson has doubtless a

  very dee p an d beautiful emotio n b y wa y of the Negro. Here and there he has

  succeeded i n expressin g this . .. . I expect artist s to recogniz e th e circl e of ex-

  pression. .. . Sherwood' s note s ar e very deep and sincere. Hence I attribute his

  attitude t o a natural limitation. This limitation, extended, is noticeable in the

  bulk o f his work. The range of his sensitivity, curiosity, and intelligence is not

  68

  very wide . One's admiratio n suffers , bu t one' s persona l likin g nee d no t be

  affected b y this." Cf. M. Dillard, p. 18-19.

  33. Th e concep t o f th e alte r eg o as used here was introduced int o modern

  psychological though t b y C.G . Jung . Toome r ha d rea d extensivel y i n th e

  literature o f psychoanalysis, especially Freud . Cf. the excerpt from Toomer's

  Outline of Autobiography as quoted in Dillard, p. 19.

  34. Cf . e.g., my "'Spirit Torso s of Exquisit e Strength': The Theme of Indiv-

  idual Weaknes s vs . Collectiv e Strengt h i n Tw o o f Toomer' s Poems, " CLA

  Journal, 19 (December 1975), 261-267.

  35. Th e question of why Toomer, in the words of Arna Bontemps, turned his

  back o n greatness , i s on e o f som e notoriety . I t
ha s bee n discusse d b y a

  variety o f people , like Fullenwide r an d Bontemps , som e crediting the pub-

  lishers with an almost unfailing literary o r commercial instinct, others falling

  victim to a biographical fallacy , which examines the private life of the author

  to find there the causes of failure an d success. Cf. A. Bontemps, "The Negro

  Renaissance: Jea n Toome r an d th e Harle m Writer s o f th e 1920's, " an d

  S.P. Fulle n wider, "Jea n Toomer : Los t Generation , o r Negr o Renaissance, "

  Phylon, 27 (1966), 396-403. As far a s I can see from a distance and with the

  librarian o f Fis k Universit y closely guarding her treasure of Toomer manus-

  cripts Darwi n T . Turne r ha s a fairly correc t an d nearly complete list of the

  published an d unpublishe d work s o f Toomer . Cf . hi s In a Minor Chord,

  pp. 140-143.

  36. O n the teachings of Gurdjieff cf . his Recontres avec des Hommes Remar-

  quables (Paris, 1966 ) an d Loui s Pauwels , Monsieur Gurdjieff: Documents,

  Témoignages, Textes et Commentaires sur une société initiatique contempo-

  raine (Paris, 1954).

  37. Cf . Langsto n Hughes, The Big Sea: An Autobiography (New York, 1940)

  38. Th e article has been reprinted in Studies in Cane, pp. 15-16.

  ADDITIONAL SOURCES

  Cancel, R.A., "Male and Femal e Interrelationships in Toomer's Cane,"Negro

  American Literature Forum, 5 (Spring 1971), 25-31.

  Chase, P., "The Women in Cane," CLA Journal, 1 4 (March 1971), 259-273.

  Spofford, W.K. , "The Unit y o f Part On e of Jean Toomer's Cane," Markham

  Review, 3 (May 1972), 58-60.

  Starke, G.J., Black Portraiture in American Fiction: Stock Characters, Arche-

  types, and Individuals (New York, 1971).

  Stein, M. , "Th e Poet-Observe r an d Fer n in Jean Toomer's Cane,"Markham

  Review, 2 (October 1970), 64-65.

  69

  Peter Bruck

  LANGSTON HUGHES

  THE BL UES I'M PLA YING

  (1934)

  Langston Hughe s (1902-1967), accordin g t o man y critic s "poe t

  laureate of Harlem" and "Dean of American Negro Writers," began

  his literar y caree r b y winnin g a poetry contes t sponsore d b y th e

  black magazin e Opportunity i n 1925 . "Th e Wear y Blues " wa s