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Passing: A Norton Critical Edition by Nella Larsen
This Norton Critical Edition presents Nella Larsen's electrifying 1929 novel Passing, a cornerstone of Harlem Renaissance literature. Larsen's status as a Harlem Renaissance woman writer was rivaled only by Zora Neale Hurston, and this comprehensive edition provides readers with essential scholarly apparatus to fully appreciate this groundbreaking work.Complete Scholarly Apparatus
Edited by Carla Kaplan, Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University, this critical edition features a detailed and thought-provoking introduction, thorough explanatory annotations throughout the text, and a Note on the Text that establishes the editorial approach.Historical Context and Background
The "Background and Contexts" section connects Larsen's novel to the historical events of the 1920s, most notably the sensational Rhinelander/Jones case of 1925. This landmark legal case involving racial identity and marriage provides crucial context for understanding the novel's exploration of passing. Published accounts from 1911 to 1935 by Langston Hughes, Juanita Ellsworth, and Caleb Johnson offer a nuanced view of the contemporary cultural dimensions of race and passing in America and abroad.Contemporary Reception and Reviews
Fourteen contemporary reviews are reprinted, including critical assessments by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Mary Griffin, and W. E. B. Du Bois. These reviews document how Larsen's work was received during the Harlem Renaissance and provide insight into the novel's immediate cultural impact.Author's Own Writings
This edition includes Larsen's statements on the novel and on passing, along with a generous selection of her letters and her central writings on "The Tragic Mulatto(a)" in American literature. Related Harlem Renaissance works provide additional perspective on the literary movement that shaped Larsen's writing.Critical Interpretations
The "Criticism" section provides fifteen diverse critical interpretations from leading scholars, including Mary Helen Washington, Cheryl A. Wall, Deborah E. McDowell, David L. Blackmore, Kate Baldwin, and Catherine Rottenberg. These essays represent multiple critical approaches and theoretical frameworks for analyzing the novel.Additional Resources
A Chronology places Larsen's life and work within historical context, while the Selected Bibliography guides readers to further scholarship on Larsen, the Harlem Renaissance, and racial passing in American literature and culture.About the Author
Kaplan, Carla: - Carla Kaplan is the Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature at Northeastern University. She is the author of The Erotics of Talk: Women's Writing and Feminist Paradigms, Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, and Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance (forthcoming). She is also editor of Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk Tales from the Gulf States and Dark Symphony and Other Works by Elizabeth Laura Adams.
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