Reading Bingo {a book of short stories}
The Complete Fiction of Nella Larsen: Passing, Quicksand, and The Stories | Nella Larsen
I came upon this book as a gift from a fellow teacher at my school. Before the school year started, I asked her what our students were reading this year and she told me about the book Passing by Nella Larsen. As she described it to me, I was intrigued and asked if she had an extra copy once the kids arrive, could I borrow it. She immediately said she had a copy of all Larsen’s fiction that she found in her room when she arrived this year and that I could keep it! What a gift!
I wanted to read Passing partly because I found it interesting and partly because I strive always to better understand my students. Reading the same literature as them and being able to discuss it with them and hear their perspective is one way I can try to gain a deeper understanding of who my students are. I surely accomplished this, but also found so much more in Larsen’s texts than I could have imagined.
One thing I love about older novels and also short stories in general is how they do not feel the need to wrap everything up in a pretty little bow for you at the end. I found this true when I read The Red Pony and I found it true of Larsen’s literature as well. Quicksand doesn’t have a conclusion. You are kept wondering. There is no resolution. There is no reassurance to the reader either way-that Helga is successful or isn’t...although I could take a guess. The same rang true at the end of Passing. Nella Larsen’s stories are a like peering into a window and watching someone’s life happen for a short moment of time. Sanctuary is positively chilling in its slow reveal, then sudden end. And like the others, a story is told, but it is just one piece of a whole life. We can only speculate about what came before and what comes after.
I’ll end with a quote from the front of the book. This quote completely echoed how I felt as I read each story...
“Discovering THE COMPLETE FICTION OF NELLA LARSEN is like finding lost money with no name on it. One can enjoy it with delight and share it without guilt.” - Maya Angelou
















