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Title: Essentials by Jean Toomer, Rudolph P. Byrd, Charles Johnson ISBN: 1-58818-041-7 Publisher: Hill Street Press Pub. Date: November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: GOING AGAINST THE GRAIN
Comment: Jean Toomer was one of the great literary figures from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's. His signature work, Cane, is known by most people who have studied African-American literatureo. Lesser known to readers is this brilliant work, Essentials, published in 1931.

After his success with Cane, Toomer disappeared from the literary scene to pursue his own philosophical and psychological inquiries. He went against the grain of his time which believed African-Americans were not capable of exploring the world of metaphysics, let alone psychology. Toomer, way ahead of his time proved them wrong as he sought enlightenment in the teachings of George Gurdjieff. During this time (1924-1935), Toomer published this slim volume offering his attempts to grapple with the experience of what it means to be human.

Essentials is a collection of Toomer's ponderings in his search for wholeness in a fragmented world. Drawing on modern psychology and eastern religious belief Toomer falls into the comapny of Emerson, Thoreau and Gibran as he deals with that which is transcendent. He revives the use of aphorisms to convey timeless truths in a world which is incable of moving beyond its limited definitions of life.

Long ignored, this work gives us a glimpse of Toomer's metaphysical side. Through it we capture another alternative view of dealing with reality. It is essential reading for anyone interested in metaphysics, African-American literature, Toomer and as an example of a Black writer who refused to be limited by definitions of race for his life. Think on his words. Grow in the wisdom shared by a great literary giant of the 20th century.