Introducing 'Quicksand' by Nella Larsen

Our final readalong in the Short Classic Summer series is going to be the best one yet. Read 'Quicksand' by Nella Larsen with us.

I read Passing five years ago, and it still stands out in my mind as a favorite that I recommend all the time. Given how much I enjoyed Larsen’s second novel, I am long overdue to read her first.

Quicksand by Nella Larsen was published in 1928 to critical acclaim and popular public reception. Its release launched Larsen into the ranks of Harlem Renaissance elite, but it isn’t as widely read as Passing today, probably due to Passing’s 2021 screen adaptation and resurgent success that coincided with Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half.

Both of Larsen’s short novels make excellent book club reads. With Quicksand, we can look forward to a complex character who makes puzzling choices, fascinating side characters who represent alternative life paths, and bold thematic statements from an author who explores intersectional social issues on the page.

I enjoyed making my introduction to A Midsummer Night’s Dream available to everyone, so I did the same with today’s synthesis of introductory materials. The next three Friday readalong posts will go exclusively to paid subscribers.

Our readalong schedule follows the same pattern from June and July with notes and discussion questions for each half and a reflective wrap-up newsletter—but I would like to host a final summer book club meeting for paid subscribers so we can discuss Quicksand, and our short summer reading experiences in general, together. Keep an eye out for a poll to decide our date and time (likely at the end of August or early September).

August 15th: Discussion for Ch. 1-12

August 22nd: Discussion for Ch. 13-25

August 29th: Post-Reading Reflection

Historical Context for Quicksand

”What is up with Helga Crane?”

Asali Solomon asks this question in the Modern Library Torch Bearers introduction, positioning Quicksand as a character study, and as a mystery:

Helga Crane, a beautiful, young mixed-race woman with a turbulent past, moves around the United States and abroad in search of something she never finds. Though Helga is insightful and sensitive, her decisions often seem capricious. As soon as she finds belonging and regard in one setting, she leaves. I suspect that the novel’s lack of fame is intimately connected to what makes it compelling and urgent: the as yet unanswered question, What’s up with Helga Crane?

“Helga Crane is complicated,” Solomon writes. It might be tempting to pin all of her discontent on racial strife, her inability to fit within one world or another, but that simplifies her character. The Norton Critical Edition, edited by Carla Kaplan offers a clearer path to solving the mystery of Helga Crane with a more academic inclination towards social critique. Nella Larsen hated the popular emphasis on “uplift” and was resistant to the racial pride and respectability politics permeating Alain Locke’s circles. If Quicksand is a critique of such philosophies, then Helga Crane’s seemingly rash decisions might be less random and more interconnected—still complex, but not completely inexplicable.

Both introductions draw comparisons from Quicksand to Larsen’s own biography, and both note that even though the parallels are uncanny, it isn’t a foolproof or even fair way to interpret the novel. All too often, women writers come up against the expectation that they write from personal experience rather than invented, imaginative storytelling. Even reviews in 1928 questioned how much of the book was autobiographical (Kaplan xxix). Some key points:

• Larsen was born in Chicago to a white Danish mother and a Black or mixed-race father.

• Larsen was a toddler when her father died, and her mother remarried a white man and had another daughter with him, making Larsen the only mixed-race member of the family.

• She spent time in Copenhagen with her mother’s family, and in the U.S., she was often the only student of color among her white peers.

• Larsen became a licensed nurse, working at Tuskegee Institute, then the New York City Department of Health.

• She met her husband Elmer S. Imes in 1918 and published her first work in 1920.

• Her interest in writing, literature, and the Harlem Renaissance movement eventually connected her with librarian Ernestine Rose. With Rose’s support, Larsen became “the first professionally trained and credentialed black librarian in the large New York system” (Kaplan xiii). She took a job as children’s librarian at the 135th Street library.

• Through library events and fancy soirees, Larsen and her husband met iconic Harlem Renaissance figures, artists, philosophers, and patrons. These connections and encouragements from friends helped to push Larsen’s literary career forward, giving her confidence and access. Quicksand landed her among the most famous New York literary elite, and a move to Harlem put her in the heart of a major artistic movement.

• Passing was published in 1929, followed by short story “Sanctuary” in 1930.

• Larsen’s marriage fell apart due to professional jealousy and Elmer’s affair with a white woman. She was accused of plagiarizing “Sanctuary,” and was never able to publish her third novel. She moved to Europe, North Africa, and back again. She divorced Elmer, moved to Chicago, then back to New York.

• Larsen returned to her nursing career, withdrew from her community, and died alone in 1964.

So, how much should we read into any similarities between Helga and Nella? I think it’s interesting to note some of Larsen’s background, but I will leave it up to you—if you want to carry her history into your reading experience, go for it. If not, there is plenty more to keep track of.

What to annotate

Here are a few things I will be highlighting, pondering, and annotating:

• color imagery

• critique of Harlem

• subversion of the “tragic mulatto trope”

• What is up with Helga Crane?

  • Helga’s personal taste

  • Helga’s decisions as plot devices

  • Helga in contrast to her friends

Epigraph

The epigraph leading into Quicksand comes from Langston Hughes’ poem “Cross.” Here is the poem in its entirety.

Cross

My old man’s a white old man
And my old mother’s black.
If ever I cursed my white old man
I take my curses back.

If ever I cursed my black old mother
And wished she were in hell,
I’m sorry for that evil wish
And now I wish her well.

My old man died in a fine big house.
My ma died in a shack.
I wonder where I’m gonna die,
Being neither white nor black?

Via poets.org. From The Book of American Negro Poetry (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922) edited by James Weldon Johnson. This poem is in the public domain.

Works Cited

Kaplan, Carla. Introduction: “A Queer Dark Creature.” Quicksand, by Nella Larsen. Norton Critical Edition.

Solomon, Asali. “Introduction.” Quicksand, by Nella Larsen, The Modern Library.

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