of their “outstanding ability to compete success-
fully with whites” and who were deemed to have
“adhered to a code of unimpeachable personal
conduct” (Davis, 127). The couple, who had no
children, endured a painful, high-profile divorce,
prompted by Imes’s infidelity, in 1933.
Nella Larsen emerged as a new American lit-
erary talent during the 1920s. Her earliest pub-
lished work appeared in THEBROWNIES’BOOK,
the pioneering children’s literature periodical
founded by JESSIEFAUSETand W. E. B. DUBOIS.
Larsen contributed two pieces, “Three Scandina-
vian Games” and “Danish Fun,” to the June and
July 1920 issues. Writing as Allen Semi, a
pseudonym that was her married name written in
reverse, she also contributed stories to Young’s Re-
alistic Stories Magazine.Her first published short
story, “The Wrong Man,” appeared in the January
1926 issue of Young’s Magazine.Another work,
“Freedom,” appeared a few months later in the
April 1926 issue.
During the course of her literary career, Larsen
also had the opportunity to publish in OPPORTU-
NITY,the official journal of the NATIONALURBAN
LEAGUE. She contributed book reviews to both
Opportunityand THEMESSENGER.The enterpris-
ing writer WALLACETHURMANinvited Larsen to
submit work to Harlem,a literary venture that ulti-
mately did not succeed. Larsen’s last and most con-
troversial fictional work appeared in Forum.
Larsen made her debut as a novelist in 1928.
She was part of an impressive cohort of writers cel-
ebrating publication that year. In addition to
Larsen’s QUICKSAND,four other works appeared:
Jessie Fauset’s PLUMBUN,RUDOLPHFISHER’s THE
WALLS OFJERICHO,CLAUDEMCKAY’s HOME TO
HARLEM,and W. E. B. DuBois’s DARKPRINCESS.
Her two novels, both of which were published by
KNOPF, appeared in quick succession. The first,
Quicksand,appeared in 1928 and earned her the
first of several notable awards. The novel, which
she completed in just over six months and dedi-
cated to her husband, was awarded a HARMON
FOUNDATION PRIZE. Her accomplishment was
publicized in THENEWYORKTIMES,and Larsen
attended the prize ceremony with the other win-
ners, the Reverend Channing Tobias and JAMES
WELDONJOHNSON, who was representing winner
Claude McKay because the latter was in Algiers at
the time. The ceremony, hosted by John Nail with
prizes presented by Mayor Walker and speeches
delivered by Rabbi Stephen Wise and by Helen
Harmon, the vice president of the Harmon Foun-
dation, was held at the Mother A.M.E. Zion
Church on West 137th Street. Larsen received the
second-prize bronze medal and $100; the poet and
writer Claude McKay, who won first place, re-
ceived a gold medal and $400 for his novel HOME
TOHARLEM.Rabbi Wise, who delivered the main
address that evening, noted that “The awards are
to them whose inspirations and achievements alike
are in the fields of life that matter to all of us.” He
also called attention to the fact that the presenta-
tion ceremony was held on “the birthday of the
great American whose life, whose memory, whose
name are become as a cherished symbol of both
races. Was it not Lincoln,” he asked, “who as much
as any other human has led us to see that libera-
tion from without means little unless it be supple-
mented by self-liberation?” (NYT, 13 February
1929, 13).
Larsen’s own experiences as a biracial child
and aspiring artist shaped the novel. It was roundly
praised and prompted Crisiseditor W. E. B. DuBois
to state that it was the best work of African-
American literature since the early 1900s. The
work was reviewed widely and in a variety of fo-
rums including influential African-American pub-
lications such as Opportunity, The Crisis, the
Baltimore Afro-American,and the CHICAGODE-
FENDER. Reviews also appeared throughout the
mainstream American press and in periodicals
such as The New York Times, THENEWREPUBLIC,
and THENATION.Writing in “The Ebony Flute,”
her monthly column published in Opportunity,
GWENDOLYNBENNETTnoted that “Nella Larsen’s
Quicksandhas just arrived. And let me say that
many folks will be interested to hear that this book
does not set as its tempo that of the Harlem
Cabaret—this is the story of the struggle of an in-
teresting cultured Negro woman against her envi-
ronment. Negroes who are squeamish about
writers exposing our worst side will be relieved that
Harlem night-life is more or less submerged by this
author in the psychological struggle of the heroine”
(Bennett, 153). Larsen’s novel countered the
graphic images of Harlem nightlife, intense sexual-
ity, and domesticity in disarray that appeared inLarsen, Nella Marion 305