In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line

George Hutchinson

Harvard University Press, May 30, 2006 - Biography & Autobiography - 623 pages

Born to a Danish seamstress and a black West Indian cook in one of the Western Hemisphere's most infamous vice districts, Nella Larsen (1891-1964) lived her life in the shadows of America's racial divide. She wrote about that life, was briefly celebrated in her time, then was lost to later generations--only to be rediscovered and hailed by many as the best black novelist of her generation. In his search for Nella Larsen, the "mystery woman of the Harlem Renaissance," George Hutchinson exposes the truths and half-truths surrounding this central figure of modern literary studies, as well as the complex reality they mask and mirror. His book is a cultural biography of the color line as it was lived by one person who truly embodied all of its ambiguities and complexities.

Author of a landmark study of the Harlem Renaissance, Hutchinson here produces the definitive account of a life long obscured by misinterpretations, fabrications, and omissions. He brings Larsen to life as an often tormented modernist, from the trauma of her childhood to her emergence as a star of the Harlem Renaissance. Showing the links between her experiences and her writings, Hutchinson illuminates the singularity of her achievement and shatters previous notions of her position in the modernist landscape. Revealing the suppressions and misunderstandings that accompany the effort to separate black from white, his book addresses the vast consequences for all Americans of color-line culture's fundamental rule: race trumps family.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Nellie Walker: 14
• Inheriting the Color Line 18921898: 23
• State Street Years 18991907: 36
• Turning South Nashville and Fisk 19071908: 53
• Coming of Age in Copenhagen 19081912: 64
• A Black Woman in White New York 19121915: 75
• Rebel with a Cause Tuskegee 19151916: 90
• A Nurse in the Bronx 19161919: 109
• Sojourner in Harlem The Dawn of the Renaissance 19191923: 128
• Rooms Full of Children Seward Park and Harlem 19231924: 153
• High Bohemia 1925: 178
• The New Negro Model 1926: 197
• Quicksand: 224
• In the Mecca 1927: 240
• Year of Arrival 1928: 268
• Passing: 294
• A Star in Harlem 1929: 311
• Trouble in Mind 1930: 343
• A Novelist on Her Own 19301932: 363
• The Crack Up 19321933: 398
• Letting Go 19331937: 424
• The Recluse on Second Avenue 19381944: 452
• Nella Larsen Imes RN: 463
• Epilogue: 483
• Abbreviations: 490
• Notes: 491
• Acknowledgments: 592
• Index: 597

About the author

George Hutchinson is Professor of English and Newton C. Farr Professor of American Culture at Cornell University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: In Search of Nella Larsen: A Biography of the Color Line
• Author: George Hutchinson
• Edition: illustrated, annotated
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2006
• ISBN: 0674021800, 9780674021808
• Length: 623 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures; Social Science / Cultural & Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies