In search of Nella Larsen

by George Hutchinson

Born to a Danish seamstress and a black West Indian cook in one of the Western Hemisphereʼs most infamous vice districts, Nella Larsen (1891-1964) lived her life in the shadows of Americaʼs 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 Nell Larsen, the ʺmystery woman of the Harlem Renaissance,ʺ 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. We see Larsen vividly 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 illuminate