The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand, and The Stories (Paperback)

~ (Author), Charles Larson (Editor), Marita Golden (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly charged interior dramas of the black middle class in Harlem [by] an original and hugely insightful writer."
--The New York Times

"Discovering The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen is like finding lost money with no name on it. One can enjoy it with delight and share it without guilt."
--Maya Angelou -- Review

Review

"Highly charged interior dramas of the black middle class in Harlem [by] an original and hugely insightful writer."
--The New York Times

"Discovering The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen is like finding lost money with no name on it. One can enjoy it with delight and share it without guilt."
--Maya Angelou

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (November 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385721005
• ISBN-13: 978-0385721004
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #180,145 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complete fiction-- all too slight for the quality of her voice., July 16, 2006

By	C. Gilbert "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This little book represents the complete literary output of Nella Larsen, the great Harlem Renaissance writer. It is impossible to read without the sense of a voice that went quiet too soon. These are sophisticated works, full of issues about anger and identity. In the longer pieces it is frustratingly tangible how great she could have been had she been able to develop a larger body of work.

The pieces included in this work are:

"The Wrong Man" and "Freedom"-- these are two sensational short stories that Larsen published in women's magazines at the beginning of her writing career. If I have a quarrel with this collection, I have a quarrel with the fact that Larson (the editor) chose to put these stories first. While in some ways I understand it, they are so much weaker than the rest of her work that they do not create the right beginning for the book.

"Sanctuary" is a brilliant and powerful short story about a man hiding from the law. This story marked the end of her career, as accusations of plagiarism about the story drove her out of the public eye.

"Quicksand" was her first novel. Clearly drawn from the author's own experience (Larsen was born of a Danish mother and a West Indian father), it tells the story of Helga Crane. Helga constantly resists the idea that her life is defined by the color of her skin, but finds no available options for living any other way. She turns between her black friends in Harlem and her family in Copenhagen, trying to find a way to be herself.

"Passing" is a longer novel which is about two women from the same neighborhood who grew up to take very different routes. One has successfully passed as white, and is married to a white husband. One makes her home in Harlem and marries a black doctor. When they accidentally meet some time later in a different city, their lives once more connect. Irene and Clare are confronted with their own choices when they see what has become of the other woman.

Larsen died in obscurity in 1964, after 34 years of silence. In some respects, her work feels more modern than ever in the way it takes on the complexity of identity and questions notions of both feminism and race. I would suggest buying this edition if you aren't yet familiar with her work. Her output is sadly so slight that it makes sense to buy it all bound in one volume.

Recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Larsen speaks to those who've felt they never really fit in, December 20, 2006

By	D. Goodpasture "www.betzalelstudio.com" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This volume contains two novellas, Passing and Quicksand. I would recommend reading the introduction afterwards because it might spoil the stories. The two female protagonists in her stories are loosely autobiographical. Larson's mother was from Denmark and her father was Caribbean or African-American. Both protagonists are bi-racial women living during the Harlem Renaissance period and struggling to fit into segregated society.

I liked Quicksand better. Helga Crane also has a Danish mother and African-American father. As the story opens young Helga Crane is a teacher at a very strict school in an ultra-conservative small southern US city. She is lonely and isolated and far too intelligent for her environment. She finally makes the break and moves to New York City. After a long struggle to fit in she moves to Copenhagen. She is taken in by her mother's family. Instead of finding the love and acceptance she craves she is treated condescendingly like some exotic pet. I don't want to give away the ending, but it's good.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Passing was a great read !!!!!, March 20, 2003

By	Keith Pricer (Indonesia) - See all my reviews

Passing, written by Nella Larson, portrays the thoughts and feelings of a black woman dealing with inter-racial issues during the early twentieth century. The main character Irene Redfield, who has led a semi pleasant life with her husband and child finds herself dealing with issues brought upon by her past childhood friend Claire. Claire creates an intense and unstable environment for Irene and her family throughout most of the story. Towards the end a dramatic and suspenseful moment leaves the reader to create an ending in itself. I enjoyed Passing and found it to be an interesting book in relation to the early Harlem Renaissance years.