Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149837 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-19
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

The Times, March 18, 2006
`Larsen's analysis of appearance and assumptions is a bold indictment of the ordinary ideologies of class, colour and sexuality'

Synopsis
Nella Larsen's Quicksand, first published in 1928, was the first novel to give voice to the sexual desires of a black woman. Helga Crane, the book's main protagonist, is frapped in the conflict between sexual fulfilment and middle-class respectability and a conflict of race and sex which even a religous conversion cannot resolve. Passing (1929) tackles the sensitive issue of black people who 'pass' for white. It also explores the desire of one woman for another - a new and daring theme for the writing of the time.

Customer Reviews

Don't pass it up.
I had to read 'passing' for my literature and it was the first I read. It was a great read and it truly is an absorbing book. I think it gives you a lot to think about when you've finished it too. It definetly inspired me to read more books of the Harlem renaissance. It has gone into the favourites list for sure.

Worth a Read
I was "forced" into reading this book for my course but after settling down with it, I found I really enjoyed it. Quicksand is an episodic novel about a mixed race woman's quest for happiness and despite her problems faced because of her colouring, many of the problems within the novel are related to human nature also. In Passing, the same idea comes up again but with a mixed race woman "passing" for white. The two main characters are both beautifully written and the storyline is compact enough to be admired. The book is worth reading alone simply for the descriptions of the materials and colours worn by the three women in both novels and the expression of emotion. The only gripe was that both novel could get quite melodramatic and cut the story short, but I still found it a good read. :)

Two important novels of the Harlem Renaissance
These are two important novels about the African American middle class of the 1920's. "Quicksand" is about a mulatto woman who struggles to fit into society. "Passing" deals with an African American who pretends to be white. "Passing" is the better of the two novels, but both are pretty good. The introduction to this edition provides interesting ways to interpret these two novels (including reading "Passing" as a lesbian novel).