Written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance (the first sustained artistic movement by African Americans) and of Jim Crow (one of this cultural groupās greatest obstacles), Nella Larsenās 1929 novel Passing is easily among the most penetrating, skillfully composed explorations of race and gender in the twentieth century. It focuses on two estranged friends, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, who, after years apart, are joltingly thrown back together, their lives transformed radically through one of the most scandalous and intriguing social phenomena of Larsenās timeāracial passing. Today, Larsen is ranked as one of the leading novelists of her generation; this novel, her masterpiece, demonstrates why.
Appendices include material on the novelās composition and reception, as well as legal documents relating to mixed-race individuals and a selection of recent critical work on the novelās afterlife and the 2021 film adaptation.
Written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance (the first sustained artistic movement by African Americans) and of Jim Crow (one of this cultural groupās greatest obstacles), Nella Larsenās 1929 novel Passing is easily among the most penetrating, skillfully composed explorations of race and gender in the twentieth century. It focuses on two estranged friends, Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, who, after years apart, are joltingly thrown back together, their lives transformed radically through one of the most scandalous and intriguing social phenomena of Larsenās timeāracial passing. Today, Larsen is ranked as one of the leading novelists of her generation; this novel, her masterpiece, demonstrates why.
Appendices include material on the novelās composition and reception, as well as legal documents relating to mixed-race individuals and a selection of recent critical work on the novelās afterlife and the 2021 film adaptation.