Product Description

Quicksand (1928) is the first novel to give a voice to the sexual desires of a black woman. Helga Crane, the book?s protagonist, is trapped in the conflict between an active and a passive sexual behaviour, between sexual fufilment and middle-class respectability. Conflicts of race and sex even a religious conversion cannot resolve. Passing, written a year later, is overtly about black people who ?pass? for white, but in a veiled way it also is the desire of one woman for another - a new and daring theme for the writing of the time. The eroticism and sexuality that Nella Larsen was only able to whisper has in recent times been spoken loud and clear by Gayl Jones, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange and many other black women writers who recognize Nella Larsen as a pioneer and inspiration.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53248 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"'Quicksand and Passing are novels that I will never forget. They open up a whole world of experience and struggle that seemed to me, when I first read them years ago, absolutely absorbing, fascinating and indispensable' Alice Walker 'Quicksand does not just explore the contradictory terrain of women and romance: its sexual politics tear apart the very fabric of the romance form' Hazel Carby"

About the Author
Nella Larsen was born in Chicago in 1893 of a Danish mother and a West Indian father. She began writing during the Harlem Renaissance, a period during which black artists, writers, and musicians were prominent in the New York art scene. The success of Quicksand and Passing made Nella Larsen one of the most fêted woman writers of her generation. She died in 1963 in obscurity. Now her ‘lostÂ’ work is being rediscovered and celebrated.

Customer Reviews

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).

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. :)

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.