Building the "Blue" Race: Miscegenation, Mysticism, and the Language of Cognitive Evolution in Jean Toomer's "The Blue Meridian"

Examines how the language of evolutionary science and Gurdjieffian mysticism in “The Blue Meridian,” by Jean Toomer fuse to create a language of cognition. Ways in which Toomer’s early training and reading in the biological sciences remained influential throughout his writing career; Toomer’s concep...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Texas Studies in Literature & Language Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 149 - 181
Autor principal: Hawkins, Stephanie L.
Formato: Literary Criticism
Publicado: University of Texas Press Summer2004
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:Examines how the language of evolutionary science and Gurdjieffian mysticism in “The Blue Meridian,” by Jean Toomer fuse to create a language of cognition. Ways in which Toomer’s early training and reading in the biological sciences remained influential throughout his writing career; Toomer’s concept of the “blue” race; Impact of the pervasiveness of racialist assumptions drawn from evolutionary biology in America; Toomer’s use of Darwinian evolutionary logic as the basis for his modernism.