

As she recovers from the birth of her last child, who dies in early infancy, Helga reverts to a familiar emotional pattern. Helga’s initial zeal for helping the poor women of the community is replaced by exhaustion and illness as she gives birth four times over a short period. Davis (Editor) 3.
QUICKSAND NELLA LARSEN FULL
They relocate to rural Alabama to minister to a small congregation. Nella Larsens stunning 1928 novel, accompanied by Carla Kaplans full and far-reaching introduction and explanatory annotations. Her conversion is so immediate and extreme that she seduces and marries the naïve minister of the church, Mr. Export to Citation Manager (RIS) Back to item. To verify accuracy, check the appropriate style guide. Nella Larsen - African-American Artist of the Harlem Renaissance.
QUICKSAND NELLA LARSEN SOFTWARE
She is emotionally vulnerable and decides to embrace religion. warning Note: These citations are software generated and may contain errors. Robert Anderson.ĭepressed and isolated once more, Helga wanders the streets of Harlem and happens upon a revival meeting.

Initially happy in Harlem, she becomes irritable and restless again, particularly after a brief but humiliating romantic interlude with Dr. Helga returns to America to attend the wedding of Anne Gray and Robert Anderson. Helga becomes repulsed by Olsen and angered by his proposal much to the chagrin of her family, she rejects the offer. Helga meets a famous portrait artist, Axel Olsen, who eventually proposes marriage to her. She enjoys the material wealth and attention that is afforded her there, as well as the hiatus from the prejudice she experienced in America. Ultimately, Helga comes to resent the people of color by whom she is surrounded and finds her generous hostess to be hypocritical and shallow.Īn unexpected letter from her uncle, Peter, contains the funds that allow her to exit Harlem and travel to Denmark to reside with her maternal aunt and uncle. Quicksand is a work that explores both cross-cultural and interracial themes. The novel was out of print from the 1930s to the 1970s. In 1929, Larsen published her second novel, Passing, which was also well-received her career foundered in the ensuing years, however, and she stopped writing. This is her first novel and she completed the first draft quickly. In the novel, Helga goes to Copenhagen to meet her new family. Quicksand is a novel by American author Nella Larsen, first published in 1928. Here, Helga is in her true element as she resides in the luxurious townhouse of Anne Gray, a young widow. Larsen, too, was born to a white mother and a black father. While residing at the YWCA, she ultimately secures employment as an assistant to a wealthy widow, Mrs. The first, Quicksand, follows a mixed-race woman who runs from the. This event introduces a cycle of social isolation, anger and despair that characterizes Helga. Nella Larsen wrote two novels in her lifetime, both of which are collected here. She travels by segregated train to Chicago for the purpose of securing a loan from her white uncle however, she is rebuffed by his wife and maid.
