Nella Larsen, Passing

Patrick Chura (University of Akron); Alexa Lago (University of Akron)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1929

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

The second and final published novel of Nella Larsen’s brief but brilliant literary career,

Passing

appeared in 1929, a year after

Quicksand

had made Larsen’s reputation and won praise from W.E.B. Dubois as “the best piece of fiction that Negro America has produced since the heyday of Chesnutt” (784). Though

Passing

did not create the immediate sensation of Larsen’s first book, modern critics, scholars and students have been fascinated by its intricate exploration of American racial codes and its nuanced, still-relevant treatments of social class and sexuality.

Passing opens with a poetic epigraph from Countée Cullen’s “Heritage” that asks “What is Africa to me?” The fundamental question reverberates endlessly as the characters navigate a racially obsessed society

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3336 words

Citation: Chura, Patrick, Alexa Lago. "Passing". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 August 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2909, accessed 24 April 2024.]

Save this article