Weeks 3 and 4: Nella Larsen's "Passing" (1929)

While ex-pats like Stein, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald were blazing new trails for American literature in the cafés and bars of Europe, another groundbreaking literary cultural was taking place on our own shores: the Harlem Renaissance. African American artists and intellectuals such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, James Weldon Johnson, and Claude McKay, are some of the authors of that period who continue to be read nearly a century later, along with Nella Larsen, whose 1929 novel, Passing we'll be reading next. As an aspiring writer Larsen moved from New Jersey to Harlem with the intention of soaking up inspiration. Along with her first novel, Quicksand, Passing is a key text within 20th century literary discourses of both race and gender, and sadly, these two potent books serve as her legacy: though she'd live until 1964 she gave up writing in the early 1930s.

We should unpack a few ideas before proceeding. First, there's the act of racial passing, which in the case of Larsen meant light-skinned individuals of mixed race moving within segregated (read: white) social circles, whether by actively disguising or simply not making mention of their race. This runs counter to the "one-drop rule," by which anyone with non-white ancestry (regardless of how scant it might be or how far back it lies) is excluded from identifying as white. In an era of rampant prejudice, "separate but equal" segregation (as upheld by Plessy v. Ferguson), and the threat of violence behind any transgression of the established social order one can imagine both the tremendous risk and the great potential for an improved way of life that passing entailed.

That risk increased exponentially within the legal institution of marriage, and one precedent that informs Passing is the Rhinelander case (1925) in which a husband sued his wife for failing to disclose her racial identity (eventually the court would find in her favor) While New York did not have anti-miscegenation laws, most states did. Between the late 19th century and early 20th century many of those laws were individually overturned but at the time of the Supreme Court's landmark decision on Loving v. Virginia in 1967 there were still 16 states were mixed-race marriage was illegal. Thus one can see why certain cities like New York — offering community, anonymity, and a (comparatively) progressive political environment — not only served as havens for minority populations, but also as fertile ground for creative and political innovation.

We'll find these ideas given human shape in Passing's central relationship between Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, the latter of whom is married to a white man unaware of her racial identity. These childhood friends, who grew apart but are drawn back into the orbits of one another's lives after a chance encounter, get to see what lies on either side of the racial divide and come to their own conclsions about how best one might hope to make a life in a hostile world.

Here's our reading schedule for Passing:

• Tues. September 10: Part One: Encounter
• Thurs. September 12: Part Two: Re-Encounter
• Tues. September 17: Part Three: Finale

And here are some supplemental resources for the novel:

• Richard Bernstein reviews a 2001 reissue of Passing for the New York Times: [link]
• The Times offers up a 2018 obituary for Larsen as part of their "Overlooked" series: [link]
• Heidi W. Durrow sings the praises of Passing for a 2010 NPR piece: [link]
• Lexi Nisita explores "Why Larsen's Passing Still Matters" for Refinery 29: [link]