Passing (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Larsen, Nella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142437271 ISBN 13: 9780142437278

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2003

A classic, brilliant and layered novel that has been at the heart of racial identity discourse in America for almost a century.

Clare Kendry leads a dangerous life. Fair, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a white man unaware of her African American heritage and has severed all ties to her past. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, but refuses to acknowledge the racism that continues to constrict her family's happiness. A chance encounter forces both women to confront the lies they have told others - and the secret fears they have buried within themselves.

Review:

It is a tragic story rooted in inescapable facts of American life: that whiteness conferred an almost universal unearned advantage, and that loyalty to a black racial identity was not only an act of pride but also one of courage (The New York Times)

About the Author:

Nella Larsen was a black American novelist and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Her two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), were brief, but to this day are at the heart of up-to-the-minute debates over racial and sexual identity. From these two books alone, she is regarded as one of the most important black female novelists in American history.

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0142437271
• ISBN 13: 9780142437278
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320