Passing

Nella Larsen’s slender novel Passing was published in 1929, and has maintained a legacy of lifting the veil on the complicated nature of racial passing. When Irene encounters her friend from childhood, Clare, she’s shocked to find that Clare has made the decision to permanently pass for white: she’s married a white man, lives in a white neighborhood, has what everyone believes is a white daughter, and lives the privileged life of upper middle class whites in 1927. Irene also has light skin, but lives as a Black woman in Harlem, married to a Black man with dark complexion and raising two Black sons. As the two women’s lives intersect, Irene marvels at Clare’s ability to pass and her brazenness to appear among Black communities, where she may be recognized. As Clare spirals ever closer to Irene and the distance between them blurs, both women unwittingly are dragged into the gravity of a tragic end.

On this episode, we’re discussing Larsen’s quick classic, looking at it from multiple angles: its modernity, its humor, and its ability to convey what’s happening with imagery that takes root in the mind. we’re also attempting to solve the mystery of how a person can remain fervently enraged up 17 flights of stairs. (So glad we don’t have those kind of walkups in Spartanburg.)