Jean Toomer and the prison-house of thought : a phenomenology of the spirit

Offering a critique of the subjective idealism that lies at the centre of Toomer's oeuvre through the lens of Lukac's theory of reification, Robert B. Jones frames his analysis in terms of Kierkegaard's stages of development - the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious. Pt. 1. The Aesthetic Sphere (1918-1923). 1. Aesthetics Of Orientalism And The Emergence Of Racial Consciousness. Imagist And Symbolist Poets. Like Green Blades Sprouting In His Consciousness 2. Cane: Hermeneutics Of Form And Consciousness. The Structure Of Language: Metaphor And Metonymy. The Art Of Literary Portraiture. Spiritual Design And The Structure Of Plot. Cane: Toward A Definition Of Form -- Pt. 2. The Ethical Sphere (1924-1939). 3. Landscapes Of The Self: Art And Gurdjieffian Idealism. The Poet As Idealist Philosopher. Higher Consciousness In The Novels. The Eye: A Study In Terror And Insanity. Cosmic Consciousness And The American Southwest. 4. Landscapes Of Society: The Postwar Decade. Lost And Dominant: Landscape Of The Modern Wasteland. Further Social Perspectives -- Pt. 3. The Religious Sphere (1940-1955). 5. Quiet Rebel: Quaker Religious Idealism. The Ethical Versus The Religious. Passage To India. The Poet As Knight Of Faith. The Literary Canon Of Jean Toomer. Jean Toomer Bibliography, 1923-1992. Secondary Sources. Robert B. Jones. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.