Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman’s Life Unveiled

Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman’s Life Unveiled
Thadious M. Davis
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University
Press, 1994
Rare Book Collection
Vanderbilt University Special Collections

Thadious M. Davis is a professor of English and American social thought, who specializes in African American and southern literature. Much of her research emphasizes issues of race, region, and gender.

In Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman’s Life Unveiled, Davis provides a detailed biography of Nella Larsen, one of the Harlem Renaissance’s most prominent female authors. Davis examines Larsen’s quick rise to literary recognition and abrupt fall out of the public eye, giving equal attention to her childhood, literary career, and later life as a nurse. Much of Larsen’s life has been a mystery, yet Davis’s meticulous research provides readers with new insights. She is the first biographer to locate Larsen’s birth certificate and school records.