Larsen's status as a Harlem Renaissance woman writer was rivaled by only
Zora Neale Hurston's. This Norton Critical Edition of her electrifying
1929 novel includes Carla Kaplan's detailed and thought-provoking
introduction, thorough explanatory annotations, and a Note on the Text.
An unusually rich "Background and Contexts" section connects the novel
to the historical events of the day, most notably the sensational
Rhinelander/Jones case of 1925. Fourteen contemporary reviews are
reprinted, including those by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Mary Griffin, and W.
E. B. Du Bois. Published accounts from 1911 to 1935--by Langston Hughes,
Juanita Ellsworth, and Caleb Johnson, among others--provide a nuanced
view of the contemporary cultural dimensions of race and passing, both
in America and abroad. Also included are Larsen's statements on the
novel and on passing, as well as a generous selection of her letters and
her central writings on "The Tragic Mulatto(a)" in American literature.
Additional perspective is provided by related Harlem Renaissance works.
"Criticism" provides fifteen diverse critical interpretations, including
those by Mary Helen Washington, Cheryl A. Wall, Deborah E. McDowell,
David L. Blackmore, Kate Baldwin, and Catherine Rottenberg. A Chronology
and Selected Bibliography are also included.
