Autobiographical Sketch

Jean Toomer, born December 26th, 1894 in Washington, D. C., passed his early years in that city and in New York. His first excursion westward was to the University of Wisconsin to study scientific agriculture. There he recognized that he was more adapted to humanistic studies than to work with grains and livestock. At the College of the City of New York he took up subjects bearing on human nature and conduct. His first visit to New Mexico was in 1925 in the interests of the Gurdjieff Institute, a trip made possible by Mabel Luhan. He has lived in the Southwest off and on since then. His published books are "Cane" and "Essentials". Various writings have appeared in magazines and newspapers here and abroad, and in collections. At present he is working on a play based on his recent experiences in India, and on a book outlining a way of proceeding, in life, as a conscious factor in the art of human relationships.

Autobiographical Sketch

Nathan Jean Toomer, born in Washington, D. C., December 26th, 1894, passed his early years in that city and in New York. He went to the University of Wisconsin to study scientific agriculture, but there recognized he was more adapted to humanistic studies than to agronomy and animal husbandry. At the College of the City of New York he took up subjects in line with his dominant interests. Later he was in business in New York, did social settlement work, travelled, wrote and lectured. In 1924 he became associated with a system of training to promote the harmonious development of man according to the ideas of the Gurdjieff Institute of Fontainebleau, France. He was active in that work for the following nine years.

Mr. Toomer became a resident of Bucks County in 1935. In July 1939 he went to India, visiting England on the way and stopping at Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Japan on the way back. The West has contributed largely to the re-formation of the East. Mr. Toomer went to India to discover in what ways the East might contribute to the re-formation of the West. Besides, as he said, "I have talked about the world. I want to see it. I want to see the world while there is still a world to see."

Nathan Jean Toomer was born in Washington, D.C., December 26, 1894. He was educated at the University of Wisconsin, the College of the City of New York, and the Gurdjieff Institute of Fontainebleau, France. His first published writing was a poetic sketch that came out in The Double Dealer, New Orleans, 1922. Since then, philosophical papers, criticisms, poems and sketches have appeared in periodicals and collections here, In England, and in France. "Cane", a collection of poems and sketches, appeared in 1923. "Essentials", a philosophy of life expressed in aphorisms, was published in 1931. "The Blue Meridian", a long poem on the spiritual unification of America, was published in 1936. "Living Is Developing," an expression of the developmental attitude toward life, in 1937. For many years he lectured on the developmental possibilities of human relationships. In 1934 he was married to Marjorie Content. There are three children. He has travelled in Europe, India, Ceylon, and the Far East, making a comparative study of the ways and means to larger human living. "The Second River", a book of religious experience, will soon be ready for publication.

Items in connection with

Jean Toomer

Author of *Cane*.

*Cane*, published in 1923, is now regarded by some as a minor classic in American literature.

Author of *Essentials*.

*Essentials*, published April 1st of this year, has received enthusiastic reviews, and has to date (May 15) sold almost half of the edition of 1000. A descriptive folder is attached to this paper.

Contributor to: (magazines) The New Freeman, Bifur (paris), The Chapbook, and to a number of literary magazines no longer published including The Dial, The Little Review, The Double Dealer, etc, etc.

collections) The Second and Third American Caravans. The New World Series.

Have been written about in essay, book form, by:

Gorham B Munson in *Destinations*

Paul Rosenfeld in *Men Seen*

Have lectured on literature, psychology, art, in New York, Chicago, the University of Michigan, Milwaukee, and Santa Fe.

Reviews, articles, and press notices about myself or my writing or lecturing have appeared in newspapers and periodicals all over this country, and in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna.

Jean Toomer was born in Washington D C in 1894. He has since
lived there and in New York, receiving his education mainly in
these cities. Having traveled over a good part of America,
experiencing varied aspects of its life and studying the elements
of contemporary problems, in the midst of a general interest in
art, he gradually centred on that of literature. There followed a
four year period devoted entirely to writing, the results of which
were first given printed form by the Double Dealer of New Orleans.
And soon thereafter, sketches, poems, short stories, and critical
reviews began appearing in Broom, The Crisis, The Dial, The
Liberator, The Little Review, Opportunity, etc. These brought him
in contact with a literary and artistic group in New York composed
of such men as Waldo Frank, Alfred Steiglitz, Paul Rosenfeld,
Gorham B Munson, and others. With these he has been associated
in the effort to articulate the diverse significances of America.
In 1923 his first book: Cane, was published by Boni and Liveright:
New York.

Other Books by Jean Toomer

Ready for Publication

*Winter on Earth* a collection of short stories, including "Mr Costyve Duditch" which, printed in The Dial, won a place in O'Brien's best short stories, and "Winter on Earth" which, printed in The Second American Caravan, received special favorable notice both here and in Paris reviews.

In Preparation

*Transatlantic or Eight-Day World* a dramatic novel of multiple life and experiences on a transatlantic liner. It depicts what goes on on shipboard. The action begins the day the ship leaves New York and ends the day the people reach Paris.

*The Spiritualization of America or A New Force for America* a prose analysis and synthesis which attempts to determine the main psychological factors and tendencies - race problems, human problems, including the relation of the sexes, the mechanization and sensualization of life, etc. - which make Americans down-grade life; which attempts to eliminate these factors in order that we may up-grade life and approach a general and individual ideal way of living. It will be a prose development of views and ideas expressed in "The Blue Meridian" and in "Essentials". And, of course, it will have much added matter. It will stress the need for the self-development of individuals, and will conclude with the conviction that our main need is a new religion which, among other things, will liberate and energize Conscience.

*The Revolt of Nature* a long poem, dramatic and symbolic, showing the case against Man and Nature's final revolt against him.

*Earth-Being* an autobiography

Items in connection with

Jean Toomer

1931

Author of *Cane*.

Author of *Essentials*.

*Essentials*, published April 1st of this year, has received enthusiastic reviews. A descriptive folder is attached to this paper.

Contributor to: (magazines) The New Freeman, Bifur (Paris)
The Chapbook (London), and to a number of
literary magazines no longer published
including The Dial, Broom, The Little
Review, The Double Dealer, etc., etc.
(collections) The Second and Third American
Caravans. The New World Series.

Paul Rosenfeld in *Men Seen*

Publicity Items in connection
with Jean Toomer

Author of _Cane_.

_Cane_ has gradually come to be regarded by some as a minor
classic in American literature.

Author of _Essentials_.

This book, a collection of definitions and aphorisms, published April 1, '31., has, within a month, sold 228 copies, and about 200 are on sale in various book stores. Reviews and notices have appeared in New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Milwaukee.

Contributor to: (magazines) The New Freeman, Bifur (Paris),
The Chapbook, and to a number of literary
magazines no longer published including
The Dial, The Little Review, The Double
Dealer, etc.

(collections) The Second and Third American
Caravan. The New World Series.

Gorham B Munson in _Destinations_

Paul Rosenfeld in _Men Seen_

Have lectured on literature, psychology, art, in New York,
Chicago, the University of Michigan, Milwaukee, Santa Fe, and the
suburbs of Chicago.

Have been lectured about at The New School for Social Research.

Either I personally or my writing or both are known in the
following organs and places:

Harry Hansen - the N Y World-Telegram.

Soskin of the N Y Post

Chamberlin of the N Y Times Book Review.

2

The editors of the following magazines:

The New Republic, The Nation, The New Freeman, The Bookman, Harpers, Hound and Horn, The Atlantic Monthly, The Sewanee Review, This Quarter (Paris).

The editors of the following newspapers:

The N Y Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Post, the Chicago Daily News, The Buffalo Courier, the Detroit Times, The Boston Transcript, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Phila Record, The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The St Louis Post-Dispatch, The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Milwaukee Sentinel.

Author of _Cane_.

Author of _Essentials_.

Paul Rosenfeld in _Men Seen_

Soskin of the N Y Post

2

The N Y Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Post, the Chicago Daily News, The Buffalo Courier, the Detroit Times, The Boston Transcript, The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Phila Record, The Washington Post, The Washington Star, The St Louis Post, The Dispatch, The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Milwaukee Sentinel.

Items in connection with

Jean Toomer

Author of _Cane_.

_Cane_, published in 1923, is now regarded by some as a
minor classic in American literature.

Author of _Essentials_.

_Essentials_, published April 1st of this year, has received
enthusiastic reviews. A descriptive folder is attached
to this paper.

Other Books by Jean Toomer

Ready for Publication

In Preparation

Items in connection with

Jean Toomer

Author of *Cane*.

Author of *Essentials*.

*Essentials*, published April 1st of this year, has received enthusiastic reviews, and about half of the edition of 1000 has been disposed of. A descriptive folder is enclosed.

Contributor to: (magazines) The New Freeman, Bifur (Paris), The Chapbook (London), and to a number of literary magazines no longer published, including The Dial, Broom, The Little Review, The Double Dealer, etc., etc.

Paul Rosenfeld in *Men Seen*

Have lectured on literature, psychology, and art, in New York, Chicago, the University of Michigan, Milwaukee, and Santa Fe.

Reviews, articles, and press notices about myself or my writing or lecturing have appeared in news papers and periodicals allover this country, and in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. Just now there is an increased publicity in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison papers owing to the apperance of "Essentials" and to recent lectures and interviews.

Other Books by Jean Toomer

Ready for Publication

*The Blue Meridian* a volume of poems

In Preparation

*Effánsatlantic* or *Eight-Day World* a dramatic novel of multiple life and experiences on a transatlantic liner. The action begins the day the ship leaves New York and ends the day the people reach Paris.

*The Spiritualization of America* or *A New Force for America* a prose analysis which attempts to determine the main psychological factors and tendencies - race problems, human problems including the relation of the sexes, the mechanization and sensualization of life, etc. - which make Americans down-grade life; which attempts to eliminate these factors in order that we may up-grade life and approach a general and individual ideal way of living. It will be a prose development of views and ideas expressed in "Essentials" and in "The Blue Meridian". And, of course, it will contain much added matter. It will stress the need for the self-development of individuals, and will conclude with the conviction that our main need is a new religion, the nature of which I will attempt to define.