Nella Larsen's powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today. A New York Times Editorsā Choice Ā Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to āpassā as a white woman. Clareās childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clareās risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem, Clareās interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Ireneās black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again, and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling. This edition features a new introduction by Emily Bernard and notes by Thadious M. Davis. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Ā titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theĀ series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateĀ translations by award-winning translators. |
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How to be well-read in no time: 100 short novels |