Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt

Nella Larsen - African-American Artist
of the Harlem Renaissance

by

Kathrin Schmittner

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION   2

2. NELLA LARSEN NOVELIST OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE 3

2. 1. The Harlem Renaissance Era 3
2. 2. The Black Women Writers of the Renaissance Period 5
2. 3. Nella Larsen′s Biography 6

3. QUICKSAND  10

3. 1. Quicksand Plot Outline 10
3. 2. Quicksand Themes 12

4. PASSING  15

4. 1. Passing Plot Outline 15
4. 2. Passing Themes 17

5. NELLA LARSEN AND THE TRAGIC MULATTO THEME 19

6. CONCLUSION 22

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY  24

1. INTRODUCTION

Nella Larsen was an American novelist and short story writer famously associated with the Harlem Renaissance era, also called “an era of extraordinary achievement in black American art and literature areas during the 1920´s and 1930´s”¹. Changes and transformation mark Larsen’s existence. She lived through the most eventful decades of the twentieth century, eventful for all of the American population, especially for the ethnic and racial minorities and for women.

Nella Larsen published two novels, Quicksand and Passing, at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. They were widely and favourably reviewed. Larsen’s novels, which describe the mulatto theme, had become popular in American literature. In such works the male or female protagonist, who is light enough to pass as a white person, finds that all personal ambitions (education, employment and social mobility in general) are strictly limited when one is kept to the racial restrictions, which are typical for the early 20th century in the North as well as in the South. To avoid the problem, the protagonist chooses to pass for a white and moves into the white world, only to find even greater dissatisfaction. Torn between two worlds, one white and the other black, and alienated from both, the protagonist becomes a tragic figure. Applauded by the critics, Larsen was heralded as a rising star in the black artistic firmament. She was treated accordingly: invitations to speaking engagements and social affairs came her way, as did significant honours. In 1930, she became the first African- American woman to receive a Guggenheim fellowship for Creative Writing. But her stardom faded just as quickly as it had risen. By 1934, Nella Larsen had disappeared from Harlem and from the literature-world.²

This seminar paper will sketch some of the elements of the cultural “Zeitgeist” that shaped and was reflected in Nella Larsen’s writings. But it will concentrate on the novels that she left behind: Quicksand and Passing. An important topic Larsen is dealing with is race-identity. Larsen assimilates these themes in her two novels, not by representing the lower-class problem, but more by focusing on the life and problems of middle-class females. It is more the psychological than the sociological side she portrays. This paper demonstrates that race identity and race dualism reflects Larsen’s own life story. First I will give an introduction on the Harlem Renaissance era. Then I will focus on Nella Larsen’s life. I will examine her two novels Quicksand and Passing to find out how race identity and race dualism is assimilated in her novels.

2. NELLA LARSEN NOVELIST OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE

2. 1. The Harlem Renaissance Era

The Harlem Renaissance was a period of outstanding literary creativity that took place in the United States during the 1920s. The main factors contributing to the development of the Harlem Renaissance were African-American urban migration, trends towards experimentation throughout the country and the rise of radical African-American intellectuals.

In 1904, several middle class African-American families moved away from the decaying conditions of black Bohemia in midtown New York into the newly built suburb of Harlem. This initiated a move north of educated African-Americans and a foothold into Harlem. In 1910, various African-American realtors and a church group bought up a large housing block along 135th and Fifth Ave. This purchase caused a “white flight” and lowered real estate prices. 

World War I approached. The shortage of labour ensued and the enormous supply of European unskilled workers that flowed to New York City didn’t cease. From the southern states came vast numbers of African-American attracted not only by the prospect of paid labour but by the escape from the inherent inequities and blatant institutional racism of the South.

[...]

1 WATSON, S.: The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture 1920-1930; 1995

2 ref. to: WALL, C.: Women of the Harlem Renaissance; 1995, p. 88. f.