Jean Toomer\u27s Cane: A Work in the American Grotesque Genre

In my thesis I will discuss the fact that Jean Toomer’s Cane is a grotesque work, one which in several ways resembles Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. While Jean Toomer never specifically alludes to any of the characters in Cane as grotesques, they consistently exhibit three of the strongest, most characteristic elements of the grotesque: physical and/or psychic deformities, alienation from the reader/viewer, and, most importantly, unrelenting conflict from two opposing elements. In fact, the figures in Cane show even more development of grotesque themes than the characters in Winesburg, Ohio, a collection known for its portrayals of modern American grotesques. I will first discuss the current, modern interpretation of the term “grotesque” as it applies to the arts, referring to established texts on the subject such as Wolfgang Kayser’s The Grotesque in Art and Literature, Philip Thomson’s The Grotesque, and William Van O’Connor’s ‘The Grotesque: An American Genre’ and Other Essays. I will then explain with reference to Winesburg, Ohio, how Cane exhibits the three major grotesque characteristics, beginning with physical abnormalities, following that with character alienation from reader, and concluding with unremitting disharmony