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: #27276 in Books
• Published on: 1986-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780813511702
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
"A tantalizing mix of moral fable and sensuous colorful narrative, exploring female sexuality and racial solidarity." -- Women's Studies International Forum

"Quicksand and Passing are novels 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

"This series is an ambitious, exciting, and highly valuable contribution to the reclamation of American women's lost literature." -- Joyce Carol Oates

From the Back Cover
Nella Larsen's novels Quicksand(1928) and Passing(1929) document the historical realities of Harlem in the 1920s and shed a bright light on the social world of the black bourgeoisie. The novel's greatest appeal and achievement, however, is not sociological, but psychological. As noted in the editor's comprehensive introduction, Larsen takes the them of psychic dualism, so popular in Harlem Renaissance fiction, to a higher and more complex level, displaying a sophisticated understanding and penetrating analysis of black female psychology.

About the Author
Deborah E. McDowell is Professor of English at the University of Virgina.

Customer Reviews

Only read Quicksand--wonderful book
I read this book years ago, in college. It made me much more sympathetic to the struggles of biracial (black and white) women, of the past and today -- I am an Asian-American female. The book is a beautifully written, but painful story of how the protagonist moves through her life in societies where she is kept down on many levels (socially, economically, psychologically, physically) -- basically her journey through the "quicksand" of classism, racism, and sexism. The book deserves a wide audience.

A sin that this book is not more widely read.
Passing and Quicksand are fine novels rich in both history and intrigue. Passing's complex representation of the "race" problem is brilliant in its subtlety. What makes the novel so rich isLarsen's intelligent use of dialogue and her vivid imagery. The paragraph describing Chicago heat in the middle of summer is mind boggling. The friendship between Clare and Irene exposes complexities inherent in female releationships. Certainly the love triangle that develops only adds to the interest level of the narrative. It's a shame that this novel dose not have a wider reaing audience.

great look into the harlem renaissance
This book is a fast reading, simple to understand look into the life of black women during the Harlem Renaissance. These short stories give a deep glimpse into a part of histroy that is usually forgotten. Nella wrote of her experiences and I think that is what makes these short novels so great.