Digestible Classics Book Club: Passing

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Adults
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Program Description

Event Details

Digestible Classics dives into the best books that are short enough for a busy schedule. Everyone is welcome, no matter your experience with classic literature. If you're new to it, this is a great place to start. This month we'll be reading Passing by Nella Larsen. 

 

Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to "pass" as a white woman. Clare's childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare's risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem, Clare's interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene's black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again, and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling. Nella Larsen's powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today.

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