{"title":"Nella Larsen","description":"Nella Larsen (1891-1964) is one of the most well-known names in the Harlem Renaissance canon, though much of her personal history remains elusive. The author of two novels, Quicksand and Passing,  and several short stories, she received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1930 and later worked as a nurse. Larsen died in New York City in 1964.","products":[{"product_id":"quicksand-and-passing-paperback","title":"Quicksand and Passing - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNella Larsen was an important writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance. While she was not prolific her work was powerful and critically acclaimed. Collected here are both of her novels, \u003cem\u003ePassing\u003c\/em\u003e and\u003cem\u003e Quicksand\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eQuicksand\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, was autobiographical in nature and examined a woman's need for sexual fulfilment balanced against respectability and acceptance amid a deeply religious society. The novel is deeply pessimistic and ends as the protagonist is sucked into a life that is at odds with all that she had desired.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePassing\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e confronts the reality of racial passing. The novel focuses on two childhood friends Clare and Irene, both of whom are light skinned enough to pass as white, who have reconnected with one another after many years apart. Clare has chosen to pass while Irene has embraced her racial heritage and become an important member of her community. The Novel examines how people pass on many different levels and in many different ways. Some forms of passing are perfectly acceptable while others can lead to disaster.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101525545183,"sku":"9781604599923","price":22.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/OXRGVlc5VndnY3o3MW5rWnByOGwydz09.webp?v=1781071659"},{"product_id":"passing-paperback","title":"Passing - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003ePassing is a remarkably candid exploration of shifting racial and sexual boundaries. Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism that continues to constrict her family's happiness. A chance encounter forces both women to confront the lies they have told others-and the secret fears they have buried within themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101531836639,"sku":"9781607966937","price":10.78,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/a2VCSGRpUTBLQjdvVjcrTTRsYVZodz09.webp?v=1781071671"},{"product_id":"passing-paperback-1","title":"Passing - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e2011 Reprint of 1928 Edition not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Clare and Irene were two childhood friends. They lost touch when Clare's father died and she moved in with two white aunts. By hiding that Clare was part-black, they allowed her to 'pass' as a white woman and marry a white racist. Irene lives in Harlem, commits herself to racial uplift, and marries a black doctor. The novel centers on the meeting of the two childhood friends later in life, and the unfolding of events as each woman is fascinated and seduced by the other's daring lifestyle. The end of the novel is famous for its ambiguity. Many see this novel as an example of the plot of the tragic mulatto, a common figure in early African-American literature. Recently, Passing has received renewed attention because of its close examination of racial and sexual ambiguities and liminal spaces. It has achieved canonical status in many American universities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101541241055,"sku":"9781614270003","price":7.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/cFdYRVcwbkFHNzFNTlYwcDM1Q2tzQT09.webp?v=1781071687"},{"product_id":"quicksand-paperback","title":"Quicksand - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e2011 Reprint of 1928 Edition not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Nella Larsen's first novel tells the story of Helga Crane, a fictional character loosely based on Larsen's own early life. Crane is the lovely and refined daughter of a Danish mother and a West Indian black father who abandons Helga and her mother soon after Helga is born. Unable to feel comfortable with any of her white-skinned relatives, Helga lives in various places in America and visits Denmark in search of people among whom she feels at home. The work is a superb psychological study of a complicated and appealing woman, Helga Crane, who, like Larsen herself, is the product of a liaison between a black man and a white woman. In one sense, Quicksand might be called an odyssey; however, instead of overcoming a series of obstacles and finally arriving at her native land, Larsen's protagonist has a series of adventures, each of which ends in disappointment.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101615132895,"sku":"9781891396991","price":10.71,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/NWdPREUzS1kzMWVneWhCYzhKbHV4QT09.webp?v=1781071830"},{"product_id":"quicksand-paperback-1","title":"Quicksand - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA classic novel of identity, sexuality, religion, and race by the author of \u003ci\u003ePassing, \u003c\/i\u003ehailed as \"an original and hugely insightful writer\" by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e--with an introduction by Asali Solomon, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Days of Afrekete\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eQuicksand\u003c\/i\u003e . . . open[s] up a whole world of experience and struggle that seemed to me, when I first read [it] years ago, absolutely absorbing, fascinating, and indispensable.\"--Alice Walker\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBorn to a white Danish mother and a Black American father, Helga Crane has long struggled to carve a path for herself amid the racial segregation of the early twentieth century. As a teacher at an all-Black boarding school in the South, Helga quickly becomes unsettled by the way the school measures excellence based on proximity to whiteness. Journeying to Chicago, Harlem, and Copenhagen, she attempts to thrive free from the constraints of category--mother or wife, promiscuous or chaste, white or Black, American or Danish. But these categories, though slippery and unstable, are constantly reinforced. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHelga finally settles into a life that feels secure yet completely at odds with her previous ambitions--married to a preacher in the Deep South, hoping to find peace under the wings of the Church. Landing back where she started, in social and existential oblivion, Helga forces us to consider: In a society marred by injustice, is it even possible to find a true, authentic self? With intriguing parallels to Larsen's own life, \u003ci\u003eQuicksand \u003c\/i\u003eis an engrossing page-turner that is as relevant now as ever before. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Modern Library Torchbearers series features women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101649178847,"sku":"9780593730270","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/DX_vvjnSwg9780593730270.webp?v=1781071896"},{"product_id":"passing-paperback-2","title":"Passing - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn Larsen's second novel, \"Passing,\" first published in 1929, the author revisits the theme of her first novel \"Quicksand\", that being the struggle for racial identity by children of mixed-race. The novel details the lives of two childhood friends, Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, both of whom are of mixed African and European ancestry and are \"passing\" as whites. The novel picks up in the lives of the two as they later reunite in adulthood. An ambiguous relation develops between the two as they share a fascination for how each other's lives have transpired since they last knew each other. Larsen's work has been lauded for its exploration of race, gender, class, and sexuality amongst African Americans in early part of the 20th century. Now considered as a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Larsen's writing gives a firsthand insight into the struggle of African Americans during this era. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101653405919,"sku":"9781420956139","price":12.94,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/TVpDNkkwUC9oMVBURStPdE5tNk5jQT09.webp?v=1781071907"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/nella-larsen.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}