provided readers with a frank and ironic assess-
ment. She noted that the novel, which focused pri-
marily on an African-American woman and her life
as a dancer, was “an awkwardly written and disor-
derly book.” In addition to containing “inaccura-
cies,” she noted that Black Sadie was plagued by
“twaddle concerning the inherent qualities of the
Negro” that would therefore make much of the
book “very amusing—especially to the Negro
reader” (Larsen, 24).
Following the publication of Black Sadie,
Campbell began work on his second novel. Ole
Miss,which was based on the life of his great-
grandmother, whose life spanned all but 10 years
of the 19th century, was published in 1929. The
GREATDEPRESSIONprompted Houghton Mifflin
to refrain from publishing his third novel, origi-
nally entitled Sweet Chariotbut which his British
publishers changed to White Nigger.While Camp-
bell admitted that he preferred his original title, it
is clear that the press saw the opportunity to tap
into the increasing commercialization of contro-
versial racial material. Unfortunately for Camp-
bell, however, the book did not fare well in the
British market. According to Campbell this was
because “the English people see no urgency in
that question” of mixed-race identity and racial
assimilation (1). Once he had forged new ties to
England, where he was writing and also working in
Oxford at St. Paul’s Church, Campbell continued
to write and to shepherd his books through the
publishing process. His last novel, Far Trouble,was
a “story of kidnapping and mystery” set in China,
but it did not sell well in England or when an
American publisher published it. The disappoint-
ing sales prompted Campbell to abandon writing
for the time being. Following his retirement from
Notre Dame, which was hastened by his adverse
reaction to academic pressures at the school that
were brought on by World War II, Campbell re-
turned again to writing. He tried unsuccessfully to
obtain a publisher for Sweet Chariot,completed a
book on Virginia, and began his autobiography.
Bibliography
Campbell, T. Bowyer. “Thomas Bowyer Campbell.”
CatholicAuthors.com. Available online. URL: http://
catholicauthors.com/campbell.html. Accessed May
2005.
Larsen, Nella. “Black Sadie,” Opportunity 7 (January
1929): 24.CaneJean Toomer(1923)
The collection of writings by JEANTOOMERthat
was published by BONI&LIVERIGHTin 1923. The
volume, which included an introduction by
WALDO FRANK, Toomer’s mentor, seemed des-
tined to become a best seller. Shortly after its pub-
lication, COUNTEE CULLEN wrote to Toomer,
announcing proudly that he had “bought the first
copy of Canewhich was sold.” Having “read every
word of it,” he declared it to be “a real race contri-
bution, a classical portrayal of things as they are.”
According to scholar Charles Davis, Toomer would
come to believe that it was a portrait of what was,
a “swan song” of the South and of his ability to
represent that world in his writing.
Divided into three sections, Cane included
works previously published in a variety of maga-
zines. The first two sections included short fiction,
poems, and vignettes. The third was a lengthy
prose narrative about a tormented northern
schoolteacher who confronts his racial nightmares
and his fears of LYNCHINGin the South. Toomer of-
fered nuanced sketches of black life that ultimately
revealed disturbing motifs of sterility, predation,
alienation, and disregard. In ways, these themes
testified to Toomer’s own struggles to define him-
self and assert a humanity and identity not prede-
termined by sociocultural notions of race and black
manhood. OPPORTUNITYeditor Charles Johnson’s
assessment of the volume reinforced Toomer’s goal.
Although he pronounced first that Toomer had
emerged “triumphantly the Negro artist,” he went
on to declare that the writer was “detached from
propaganda, sensitive only to beauty” and that he
had bestowed upon “the peasant a passionate
charm” (Bontemps, 243).
The first section, represented by a portion of a
circle that the subsequent sections will add to and
complete, focuses intently on African-American
folk and rural life in Georgia. The opening piece in
the volume, “Karintha,” signals the unconven-
tional gaze that Toomer will cast upon this land-
scape. It begins with the following epigraph that
reappears in the text proper: “Her skin is like dusk
on the eastern horizon, / O can’t you see it, O can’tCane 73