A Transnational Novel in Disguise: The Influence of Brazil in Nella Larsen's Passing

Grant M. Andersen, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Abstract

While Nella Larsen's second novel, Passing, has received increased attention by critics in recent years there has been little consideration of the transnational dimension of the novel. As I intend to demonstrate in this thesis, by focusing on Brian Redfields’s desire to relocate to Brazil, we must consider Passing as an importantly transnational novel and not just a novel solely focused on Chicago and Harlem. The influence of Brazil on both Brian and Irene Redfield serves to comment on, and critique, the interrelated construction of race and class in the U.S. nation-state. Thus, as I show, we must consider Passing alongside other more famous, explicitly transnational novels of the Harlem Renaissance such as Larsen’s first novel, Quicksand. Passing is a novel not only concerned with the specific locale of Harlem but also with the black diaspora that is found in so many corners of the globe.