Title: Passing
First published: 1929
Description: First published to critical acclaim in 1929, Passing firmly established Nella Larsen's prominence among women writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Irene Redfield, the novel's protagonist, is a woman with an enviable life. She and her husband, Brian, a prominent physician, share a comfortable Harlem town house with their sons. Her work arranging charity balls that gather Harlem's elite creates a sense of purpose and respectability for Irene. But her hold on this world begins to slip the day she encounters Clare Kendry, a childhood friend with whom she had lost touch. Clare—light-skinned, beautiful, and charming—tells Irene how, after her father's death, she left behind the black neighborhood of her adolescence and began passing for white, hiding her true identity from everyone, including her racist husband. As Clare begins inserting herself into Irene's life, Irene is thrown into a panic, terrified of the consequences of Clare's dangerous behavior. And when Clare witnesses the vibrancy and energy of the community she left behind, her burning desire to come back threatens to shatter her careful deception.
Subjects: Fiction, Passing (Identity), African American women, Human skin color, Female friendship, Married women, Racially mixed people, Identity (Psychology), Criticism and interpretation, Afro-Americans, Race relations, open_syllabus_project, African American women -- Fiction., Racially mixed people -- Fiction., Identity (Psychology) -- Fiction., Passing (Identity) -- Fiction., Female friendship -- Fiction., Human skin color -- Fiction., Married women -- Fiction., New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction., Fiction, psychological, African americans, fiction, Friendship, fiction, Married people, fiction, New york (n.y.), fiction, Fiction, african american, general, Fiction, african american & black, general, American literature, Fiction, general, African Americans, Noires américaines, Romans, nouvelles, Passing (Identité), Relations raciales, Psychological, Classics, Criticism and interpretationlarsen, nella, African american women--fiction, Racially mixed people--fiction, Passing (identity)--fiction, Identity (psychology)--fiction, Female friendship--fiction, Human skin color--fiction, Married women--fiction, Ps3523.a7225 p37 2007, 813/.52, Contemporary women, Literary, English & college success -> english -> fiction, General, Urban life, Historical
Places: New York (N.Y.)
People: Nella Larsen
Time periods: 20th century