Quicksand (Dover Books on Literature & Drama) - Softcover

Larsen, Nella

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486451402 ISBN 13: 9780486451404

Publisher: Dover Publications, 2006

Synopsis

Helga's mother is white, and her father is black — and absent. Ostracized throughout her lonely childhood for her dark skin, Helga spends her adult life seeking acceptance. Everywhere she goes — the American South, Harlem, even Denmark--she feels oppressed. Socially, economically, and psychologically, Helga struggles against the "quicksand" of classism, racism, and sexism.
One of the most acclaimed and influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen published her powerful first novel in 1928. Quicksand features intriguing autobiographical parallels with Larsen's own life, in addition to reflecting many aspects of African-American culture of the 1920s. Alice Walker praised it and Passing (Larsen's second novel, also available in a Dover edition) as "novels I will never forget. They open up a whole world of experience and struggle that seemed to me, when I first read them years ago, absolutely absorbing, fascinating, and indispensable."

About this title

About the Author:

One of the shining stars of the Harlem Renaissance, Nellallitea "Nella" Larsen (April 13, 1891–March 30, 1964) left behind only two novels and a handful of short stories — but Larsen's remarkable voice and vision has ensured her place in literary history.

Review:

"Fine, thoughtful and courageous. It is, on the whole, the best piece of fiction that Negro America has produced since the heyday of [Charles] Chesnutt." —W. E. B. Du Bois

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0486451402
• ISBN 13: 9780486451404
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144