Nella Larsen

Nella Larsen (1891-1964) is recognized as one of the most influential, and certainly one of the most enigmatic, writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Larsen was remarkable in approaching the subject of race as a modernist - and with the instant success of her two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929) - she became a bright light in New York's literary firmament. In 1930 Larsen became the first black woman to be awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. Yet, she never published again. When Passing was...See more

Nella Larsen (1891-1964) is recognized as one of the most influential, and certainly one of the most enigmatic, writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Larsen was remarkable in approaching the subject of race as a modernist - and with the instant success of her two novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929) - she became a bright light in New York's literary firmament. In 1930 Larsen became the first black woman to be awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. Yet, she never published again. When Passing was first reissued in 2001, the New York Times's book critic Richard Bernstein wrote that reading it and knowing that its author wrote very little after it imparts a sense of loss, giving as it does a glimpse of an original and hugely insightful writer whose literary talent developed no further.In 1942, Larsen moved downtown from West 135th Street to Second Avenue and returned to nursing to support herself. Having cut her ties to Harlem's circle of artists and intellectuals, and with no connection to her last living relatives, Larsen had, wittingly or not, created the conditions necessary to disappear quietly. She died of a heart attack in her apartment on March 30, 1964. She was 72. See less