Passing : Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism.

Description

"This remarkably comprehensive critical edition does the field a great favor by bringing together in a single volume the full texts of iNella Larsen's thoroughly modernist novel, Passing, and a wealth of contextual materials: contemporary reviews from W. E. B. Du Bois, among others; correspondence, including letters to the likes of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten; biographical and social commentaries, as well as a full complement of the critical responses the novel has generated over the past twenty-five years. " —Ann duCille, Wesleyan University Nella Larsen (1891-1964) occupies a central place in African-American and Modernist literature, and her status as a Harlem Renaissance woman writer is rivaled only by Zora Neale Hurstons. This Norton Critical Edition of Larsen's electrifying 1929 novel is accompanied by Carla Kaplan's insightfully detailed introduction, explanatory' annotations, and a Note on the Text. "Backgrounds and Contexts" connects Passing to the historical events of the day. most notably the sensational Rhinelander/Jones case of 1925. Fourteen contemporary' reviews are reprinted, including those by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, W. B. Seabrook, Mary Griffin, andW. E. B. Du Bois. Little- known documents, including those by Juanita Ellsworth and Caleb Johnson, reveal America's fascination with—and fear of—the cultural phenomenon of passing. Also included are Larsen's statements on the novel and on passing, as well as a generous selection of her letters. The theme of "The Tragic Mulatto(a)" in American literature is explored through related writings by Lydia Maria Child, William Wells Brown, Kate Chopin, Mark Twain, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes, among others. Finally, Joseph Seamon Cotter. Jr., Jessie Redmon Fauset, Countee Cullen, W. E. B. Du Bois, Allen Semi [Nella Larsen], George S. Schuyler, Carl Van Vechten, and Langston Hughes voice their impressions of passing from the perspective of the Harlem Renaissance. "Criticism" provides sixteen diverse interpretations o{ Passing by, among others, Deborah E. McDowell, Judith Butler, Cheryl A. Wall, Thadious M. Davis, George Hutchinson, Mar)' Helen Washington, Ann duCille, Gayle Wald, Claudia Tate, and Jennifer DeVere Brody. A Chronology and Selected Bibliographv are also included.