Passing /
Material type: TextSeries: Penguin classicsPublisher: New York : Penguin Books, 2003Description: xxxv, 122 pages ; 20 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 0142437271
- 9780142437278
- 813.52
- PS3523.A7225 P37 2003
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Hayden Library Adult Paperback | Hayden Library | Book | LARSEN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610021555953 | |||
Standard Loan | Rathdrum Library Adult Fiction | Rathdrum Library | Book | LARSEN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610021555649 | |||
Standard Loan | Spirit Lake Library Adult Paperback | Spirit Lake Library | Book | LARSEN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610021555581 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A NETFLIX BOOK CLUB PICK
Nella Larsen's powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today. A New York Times Editors' Choice. Now a major motion picture starring Tessa Thompson and Alexander Skarsgård
One of The Atlantic 's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years
Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to "pass" as a white woman. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare's risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem, Clare's interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene's black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again, and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling. This edition features a new introduction by Emily Bernard and notes by Thadious M. Davis.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Originally published in the U.S.A. by Alfred A. Knopf, 1929.
Includes bibliographical references.
Two light-skinned African American women try to pass for white to escape racism, and Clare Kendry cuts her ties to the past and to Irene Redfield, ignoring the fact that that racism exists. -- Novelist.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Introduction: Nella Larsen's Erotics of Race (p. ix)
- Acknowledgments (p. xxix)
- A Note on the Text (p. xxxi)
- The Text of Passing (p. 1)
- Backgrounds and Contexts (p. 83)
- Reviews (p. 85)
- "Passing" Is a Novel of Longings (April 27, 1929) (p. 85)
- Beyond the Color Line (April 28, 1929) (p. 85)
- The Color Line (April 28, 1929) (p. 87)
- The Dilemma of Mixed Race: Another Study of the Color-line in New York (May 1, 1929) (p. 88)
- As in a Looking Glass (May 3, 1929) (p. 90)
- Touch of the Tar-brush (May 18, 1929) (p. 91)
- Passing (June 1929) (p. 93)
- The Cat Came Back (June 5, 1929) (p. 94)
- Novel of Race Consciousness (June 23, 1929) (p. 96)
- Passing (July 1929) (p. 97)
- Passing (July 1929) (p. 99)
- Passing (Aug. 1929) (p. 99)
- Do They Always Return? (Sept. 28, 1929) (p. 101)
- Passing (Dec. 1929) (p. 102)
- Passing (Dec. 12, 1929) (p. 102)
- Contemporary Coverage of Passing and Race (p. 105)
- When Is a Caucasian Not a Caucasian? (March 2, 1911) (p. 105)
- Writer Says Brazil Has No Color Line (Oct. 1925) (p. 107)
- Does It Pay to "Pass?" (Aug. 20, 1927) (p. 107)
- From White Negroes (May-June 1928) (p. 109)
- 3,000 Negroes Cross the Line Each Year (July 12, 1928) (p. 111)
- From Negro to Caucasion, Or How the Ethiopian Is Changing His Skin (1929) (p. 112)
- Crossing the Color Line (July 28, 1929) (p. 117)
- From Crossing the Color Line (Aug. 26, 1931) (p. 121)
- 75,000 Pass in Philadelphia Every Day (Dec. 19, 1931) (p. 123)
- Careful Lyncher! He May Be Your Brother (Jan. 21, 1932) (p. 124)
- Blonde Girl Was 'Passing' (Jan. 23, 1932) (p. 125)
- Virginia Is Still Hounding 'White' Negroes Who 'Pass' (p. 126)
- The Rhinelander/Jones Case (p. 129)
- Society Youth Weds Cabman's Daughter (Nov. 14, 1924) (p. 129)
- Poor Girl to Fight Hubby's Parents (Dec. 26, 1924) (p. 130)
- From Calls Rhinelander Dupe of Girl He Wed (Nov. 10, 1925) (p. 133)
- From Loved Rhinelander, Wife's Letters Say (Nov. 13, 1925) (p. 134)
- From Rhinelander Bares Love Secrets (Nov. 21, 1925) (p. 137)
- From Kip's "Soul Message" Notes Read (Nov. 28. 1925) (p. 138)
- From Rhinelander Jury Reaches a Decision after Twelve Hours (Dec. 5, 1925) (p. 145)
- [Rhinelander Editorial], The Crisis (Jan. 1926) (p. 147)
- Rhinelander Gets a Fair Deal (Jan. 26, 1926) (p. 147)
- Mrs. Rhinelander to Sail (July 16, 1926) (p. 148)
- About Nella Larsen (p. 149)
- New Author Unearthed Right Here in Harlem (May 23, 1928) (p. 149)
- Behind the Backs of Books and Authors (April 13, 1929) (p. 150)
- Jean Blackwell Hutson to Louise Fox (Aug. 1, 1969) (p. 151)
- Author's Statements (p. 152)
- [Nella Larsen Imes, Guggenheim Application] (p. 152)
- [In Defense of Sanctuary] (p. 156)
- Letters (p. 158)
- To Carl Van Vechten [1925] (p. 158)
- To Charles S. Johnson [Aug. 1926] (p. 158)
- To Eddie Wasserman [April 3, 1928] (p. 161)
- To Eddie Wasserman [April 5, 1928] (p. 161)
- To Dorothy Peterson [n.d.] (p. 162)
- To Dorothy Peterson [July 19, 1927] (p. 163)
- To Dorothy Peterson [July 21, 1927] (p. 164)
- To Dorothy Peterson [Aug. 2, 1927] (p. 166)
- To Langston Hughes [n.d.] (p. 167)
- To Langston Hughes [1930] (p. 168)
- To Carl Van Vechten [April 15, 1929] (p. 168)
- To Gertrude Stein (Jan. 26, 1931) (p. 169)
- To Carl Van Vechten [May 14, 1932] (p. 170)
- The Tragic Mulatto (A) (p. 171)
- The Quadroons (p. 171)
- From The Garies and Their Friends (p. 180)
- From Clotel (p. 192)
- From Iola Leroy (p. 200)
- From An Imperative Duty (p. 207)
- The Father of Desiree's Baby (p. 213)
- From Pudd'nhead Wilson (p. 218)
- From The House Behind the Cedars (p. 220)
- The Octoroon (p. 227)
- Near White (p. 227)
- Mulatto (p. 227)
- From Imitation of Life (p. 229)
- Selections from Stories and Novels of Passing: "The Moment of Regret" (p. 243)
- From Iola Leroy (p. 243)
- From The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (p. 248)
- From Flight (p. 257)
- From Plum Bun (p. 262)
- From Black No More (p. 270)
- Passing (p. 281)
- Selected Writings from the Harlem Renaissance (p. 285)
- The Mulatto to His Critics (p. 285)
- The Sleeper Wakes (p. 285)
- Heritage (p. 308)
- Two Who Crossed a Line (p. 311)
- Criteria of Negro Art (p. 312)
- Freedom (p. 320)
- From The Negro-Art Hokum (p. 324)
- From Nigger Heaven (p. 326)
- Passing for White, Passing for Colored, Passing for Negroes Plus (p. 332)
- Criticism (p. 335)
- Nella Larsen's Passing: A Study in Irony (p. 337)
- Nella Larsen's Passing: A Problem of Interpretation (p. 342)
- Nella Larsen: Mystery Woman of the Harlem Renaissance (p. 350)
- From Passing for What? Aspects of Identity in Nella Larsen's Novels (p. 356)
- [From Black Female Sexuality in Passing] (p. 363)
- Nella Larsen's Harlem Aesthetic (p. 379)
- From Miscegenation and "The Dicta of Race and Class": The Rhinelander Case and Nella Larsen's Passing (p. 387)
- Clare Kendry's "True" Colors: Race and Class Conflict in Nella Larsen's Passing (p. 393)
- From Sororophobia (p. 409)
- Passing, Queering: Nella Larsen's Psychoanalytic Challenge (p. 417)
- From Passing Fancies (p. 435)
- Nella Larsen and the Veil of Race (p. 444)
- From The Recurring Conditions of Nella Larsen's Passing (p. 463)
- Passing and Domestic Tragedy (p. 486)
- Passing: Race, Identification, and Desire (p. 489)
- Racial Etiquette: Nella Larsen's Passing and the Rhinelander Case (p. 507)
- A Chronology (p. 533)
- Selected Bibliography (p. 539)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Another trailblazer, Larsen wrote this novel in 1929. It follows Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield, two light-skinned black women who try to escape racism. Kendry chooses to sever all ties with her background and passes herself off as white, while Redfield simply denies that racism exists. Both, however, eventually are forced to face the awful truth. This edition contains a lengthy introduction and scholarly notes on the text. Essential for Black History Month. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Nella Larsen was associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She also worked as a librarian and a nurse in New York City, pursuing nursing after her brief, successful writing career until her death in 1964. Larsen's mother was Danish, and her father was West Indian; she used her experience as the child of middle-class parents in a mixed marriage to create characters in two novels who are stranded, caught between two cultures and unable to feel wholly at home in either. In each of Larsen's novels, the heroine suffers suffocating constrictions of her identity in both African American and white European culture. These crises in both Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929) are further complicated by the heroine's quest for sexual as well as social identity, and both novels end without hopeful resolution. Both contain autobiographical elements, but Quicksand, the more successful, reproduced in fictional form many of the circumstances of Larsen's own early life. Although her work had been out of print for many years, she has recently been rediscovered. (Bowker Author Biography)There are no comments on this title.