Bøger af Nella Larsen

Born to a white mother and an absent black father, and despised for her dark skin, Helga Crane has long had to fend for herself. As a young woman, Helga teaches at an all-black school in the South, but even here she feels different. Moving to Harlem and eventually to Denmark, she attempts to carve out a comfortable life and place for herself, but ends up back where she started, choosing emotional freedom that quickly translates into a narrow existence. Quicksand, Nella Larsen''s powerful first novel, has intriguing autobiographical parallels and at the same time invokes the international dimension of African American culture of the 1920s. It also evocatively portrays the racial and gender restrictions that can mark a life.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

In QUICKSAND, Helga Crane is the lovely and refined mixed-race daughter of a Danish white mother and a West Indian black father. Her father died soon after she was born. Unable to feel comfortable with her European-American relatives, Crane lives in various places in the United States and visits Denmark, searching for people among whom she feels at home. Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen, born Nellie Walker (April 13, 1891 - March 30, 1964), was an American novelist of the Harlem Renaissance. First working as a nurse and a librarian, she published two novels -- Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929) -- and a few short stories. Though her literary output was scant, she earned recognition by her contemporaries. A revival of interest in her writing has occurred since the late 20th century, when issues of racial and sexual identity have been studied. Her works have been the subjects of numerous academic studies.

Restless Classics presents the ninetieth anniversary edition of an undersung gem of the Harlem Renaissance: Nella Larsen's Passing, a captivating and prescient exploration of identity, sexuality, self-invention, class, and race set amidst the pealing boisterousness of the Jazz Age.When childhood friends Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry cross paths at a whites-only restaurant, it's been decades since they last met. Married to a bigoted white man who has no idea that she is African American, Clare has fully embraced her ability to "pass" as a white woman. Irene, also light-skinned and living in Harlem, is shocked by Clare's rejection of her heritage, though she too passes when it suits her needs. This encounter sparks an intense relationship between the two women who, as acclaimed critic and novelist Darryl Pinckney writes in his insightful introduction, reflect Larsen's own experience of being "between black and white, and culturally at home nowhere."In a culture intent on setting boundaries, Clare and Irene refuse to adhere to expectations of gender, race, or class, culminating in a tragic clash of identities, as their relationship swings between emotional hostility and intense attraction.

The landmark novel about the cultural meaning of race, first published in 1929, is a remarkably candid exploration of shifting racial and sexual boundaries which tells the story of an two African-American woman who must confront lies and secret fears.

A classic of women's literature in a new, elegant edition.

Hypocrisy and prejudice compel a principled mulatto teacher to desert a steady job and a socially prominent fiance.

Married to a successful physician and prominently ensconced in society, Irene Redfield leads a charmed existence -- until a chance encounter with a childhood friend who has been "passing for white."

Vi befinder os i sydstaterne i USA i 1920’erne. Den unge Helga Crane underviser på et sort universitet i Syden, hvor hun leder efter sin egen identitet som sort, som kvinde og som lærer. Hun forlader sydstaterne i en søgen efter sin egen identitet og flytter nordpå til Chicago, hvor hun får økonomisk støtte af en hvid onkel, som dog ikke ønsker nogen nærmere forbindelse med sin "sorte" niece.Vi følger Helgas søgen efter sin egen identitet i et virvar af racisme, mandschauvinisme og fordomme i en raceopdelt verden, hvor hun hverken hører til hos de sorte eller de hvide. Hendes søgen bringer hende til det pulserende New York med svingende jazzklubber og til sine slægtninge i Danmark, hvor hun mænger sig med det fineste selskab i København.Men at lede efter sin egen identitet kan være som at forsøge at vandre i kviksand, og Helgas kamp for at finde sin egen plads i verden er lang og hård."Kviksand" udkom i 1928 og på dansk i 2015.Nella Larsen (1891-1964) født Nellie Walker. Voksede op i Chicago, Illinois, som stedbarn af blandet race i en ellers "ren", hvid, dansk-amerikansk familie. Dette grundlagde en livslang ambivalens og følelse af skyld og skam i hende – som halvt sort barn bragte hun skam over sin ellers hvide familie, og dette blev et fast litterært emne i hendes semi-selvbiografiske romaner og noveller. Nella Larsen blev i høj grad litterært anerkendt af sine samtidige, men døde glemt og i ubemærkethed i Brooklyn i New York i 1964. Siden 1990’erne har hendes værker dog opnået fornyet interesse, og i dag anses de som komplekse, intellektuelle studier i race-, køns- og identitetshistorie.