(1903). Nathan Huggins, who draws parallels be-
tween the works of Larsen and JESSIEFAUSET,
notes that Larsen “moved away from the conven-
tional genteel formula” that was a hallmark of
Fauset’s writing (Huggins, 160). According to
Huggins, Larsen went further and “exposed the
psychological narrowness of Negro life, its avoid-
ance of experiment, chance-taking and daring.”
He also suggested that “[w]hile she toyed with the
notion of the Negro’s basic sensuality, she could
not let it overwhelm her credo” (Huggins, 161).
Recent scholarship has explored the degree
to which the novel also represents a critique and
exploration of lesbian desire. Critics Deborah
McDowell and Beverly Haviland suggest that
Larsen may have used race as a foil in order to
accommodate the intense psychosexual drama
embedded in the novel and in the relationship
between the two female protagonists. Yet, as
critic Nell Sullivan cautions, while race may be a
pretext that allows a writer to consider additional
issues, Passingis a novel that is “profoundly con-
cerned with racial identity” (Sullivan, 373). Pass-
ing illustrates the impressive ways in which
women writers were grappling with contemporary
social issues, political debates about race, and en-
during discussions of domesticity, female desire,
and self-preservation.
Bibliography
Davis, Thadious M. Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem
Renaissance: A Woman’s Life Unveiled.Baton Rouge:
Louisiana State University Press, 1994.
Haviland, Beverly. “Passing from Paranoia to Plagiarism:
The Abject Authorship of Nella Larsen.” Modern
Fiction Studies43, no. 2 (1997): 295–318.
Huggins, Nathan. Harlem Renaissance.New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 1971.
Larsen, Nella. Passing.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929.
Larson, Charles. Invisible Darkness: Jean Toomer and Nella
Larsen.Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1993.
McLendon, Jacquelyn. The Politics of Color in the Fiction
of Jessie Fauset and Nella Larsen.Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1995.
Sullivan, Nell. “Nella Larsen’s Passingand the Fading
Subject.” African American Review32, no. 3 (au-
tumn 1998): 373–386.
Wall, Cheryl. Women of the Harlem Renaissance.Bloom-
ington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
“Patch Quilt”Marita Bonner(1940)
A tragic tale of betrayal and domestic distress by
MARITABONNER, “Patch Quilt” is one of several
sobering short stories about family life and social
upheaval that Bonner published during the
Harlem Renaissance. Appearing in the March
1940 issue of THECRISIS, the tale focuses on
Sara, a devoted and hardworking wife who hopes
to celebrate her husband’s new job and long-
awaited paycheck. Unable to wait for Jim, her
spouse, to return from his construction job, Sara
raids her precious savings and sets out for the
market to purchase delicacies for a celebratory
dinner. On the way, she encounters a number of
individuals who make what she regards as bizarre
comments about her mission and one of her
neighbors, Miss Drake. On her way home, how-
ever, Sara uncovers the truths behind her com-
munity’s nervous asides and discovers Jim with
his light-skinned lover, Marie Drake. In a fit of
blind rage, Sara attacks the couple with her
newly purchased ice pick. As a result of the in-
juries sustained in the attack, the scarred and
half-blinded Marie Drake never leaves her home,
and Jim, wounded in the arm, is unable to do
manual labor and resume his job on the construc-
tion crew. Sara, the wronged wife, now is forced
to work doubly hard to support herself and her
erstwhile husband.Bibliography
Flynn, Joyce, and Joyce Occomy Striklin. Frye Street &
Environs: The Collected Works of Marita Bonner.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1987.Patterson, Louise Thompson See
THOMPSON,LOUISE.Pa Williams’ GalFrank Wilson(1923)
A melodrama about African-American family life
by FRANK WILSON, the actor and playwright
whose other works included such BROADWAYpro-
ductions as Meek Mose(1928) and Walk Together
Chillun(1936). Wilson also had a role in the popu-
lar play PORGYalongside PAULROBESON.
The play opened in HARLEMat the LAFAYETTE
THEATREat 132nd Street and Seventh Avenue.416 “Patch Quilt”