Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance

The exact circumstances of Larsen's (1891-1964) birth are uncertain; but it is known that she was a child of mixed race who was raised for a few years in Chicago as if she were white but then, while an adolescent, was sent off to the Fisk University Normal High School with the understanding that she would prepare to assume a position among the black middle class. She wrote two successful novels--Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929)--and gained literary prominence in New York; but after 1930 she dropped from the limelight and lived the rest of her life out of the public eye. Davis has undertaken to profile Larsen's enigmatic life and personality. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR