The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen
Passing, Quicksand, and the Stories
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · November 6, 2001
A remarkable volume that brings together the complete fiction of the author of Passing and Quicksand, one of the most gifted writers of the Harlem Renaissance. • "An original and hugely insightful writer." —The New York Times Throughout her short but brilliant literary career, Nella Larsen wrote piercing dramas about the black middle class that featured sensitive, spirited heroines struggling to find a place where they belonged.
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- Who it’s for
- Nella Larsen’s fiction brings psychological complexity to questions of race, marriage, and belonging.
- Themes
- Belonging and loneliness, Race and identity, Marriage and insecurity
- Genres
- African American Literary Collections, Short Stories (Single Author), Women Authors Collections
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Start with this bookAbout this book
A remarkable volume that brings together the complete fiction of the author of Passing and Quicksand, one of the most gifted writers of the Harlem Renaissance. • "An original and hugely insightful writer." —The New York Times Throughout her short but brilliant literary career, Nella Larsen wrote piercing dramas about the black middle class that featured sensitive, spirited heroines struggling to find a place where they belonged.
Continue reading
Passing, Larsen’s best-known work, is a disturbing story about the unraveling lives of two childhood friends, one of whom turns her back on her past and marries a white bigot. Just as disquieting is the portrait in Quicksand of Helga Crane, half black and half white, who is unable to escape her loneliness no matter where and with whom she lives. Race and marriage offer few securities here or in the other stories in this compulsively readable collection, rich in psychological complexity and imbued with a sense of place that brings Harlem vibrantly to life.
Sharp Inner Lives
Nella Larsen’s fiction brings psychological complexity to questions of race, marriage, and belonging.
Come here for
- Sensitive heroines searching for a place to belong
- A vivid sense of Harlem
Expect
- Piercing dramas about race, marriage, and security
- Psychological depth across novels and stories
Where it sits
| African American Literary Collections | 67% |
|---|---|
| Short Stories (Single Author) | 33% |
| Women Authors Collections | 22% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Literary Fiction
- Women's Fiction
- Black Urban Fiction
- Authors
- Nella Larsen, Charles Larson
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- November 6, 2001
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Belonging and loneliness · Race and identity · Marriage and insecurity
- Reading lane
- Literary Fiction