In Search of Nella Larsen by George Hutchinson (2006)

The true story of Nella Larsen (1891-1964), the biracial star of the Harlem Renaissance, who had a sadly limited literary career.

Book Review: In Search of Nella Larsen is more than a life story. George Hutchinson subtitled it A Biography of the Color Line, and while accumulating all that can be known about Nella Larsen herself, he also documents the larger and more painful picture of what it meant to be biracial in America in the early part of the 20th Century; how America viewed and views race. An obvious labor of love, Hutchinson was determined to set right the often (deliberately) distorted record of this excellent and important writer. Correcting the massive amount of lies and misinformation about Larsen, this exhaustively thorough book documents a life as interesting as any novel. How many authors, having published two novels (Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929)) and three short stories, could have a compelling and fascinating 600-page biography? In Search of Nella Larsen is over twice as long as all Larsen's published work, and amply demonstrates her essential leadership in the Harlem Renaissance.

Nella Larsen was born to a Danish immigrant mother and a West Indian father, who was at least partially black and died not long after Larsen's birth -- she never knew her father. In a little over a year her mother had a second daughter with another Danish immigrant. Because Nella was mixed race her family had trouble finding a place to live, the largely white family having to live in the seedy "border" areas of Chicago. Her white step-father rejected her, but her mother ensured that Nella received an education and the skills to make a living (which she didn't do for her white daughter). Although raised in a white family, Larsen's mother knew she would only be accepted by the black community. But Nella was unfamiliar with black and Southern culture when she left home (perhaps similar to American President Obama). As such, she was denied a "group" identity. Larsen married a black physicist, who later had an affair with a white woman. Although less than half black, Nella still wasn't white enough for her husband, and as in Chicago and with her step-father, she was once again rejected for her blackness. This seemed to be the proverbial straw and after the divorce she descended into depression and possible alcohol or drug use. She stopped writing and avoided her friends from the Harlem Renaissance, then a few years later emerged as Nella Imes (her husband's name) an extremely successful and talented supervisory nurse, which was her career for the rest of her life.

Hutchinson is careful in his opinions, diligent in his research, reasonable in his speculation, and always persuasive in his exposition. In Search of Nella Larsen is a massive and masterful book, that reads quickly and easily. Larsen comes off as possibly traumatized in childhood, headstrong in running her own life, proud and loyal and alone in the world, but capable and intelligent in the face of any challenge. Although she had to rediscovered, as was Zora Neale Hurston, and was likewise buried in an unmarked grave, her position as an important and early leader in creating black American literature is secure.  [5★]