Nella Larsen published her the largely autobiographical novel "Quicksand- in 1928. It was an immediate success and helped her to become one of the "three leading novelists of New Negro, or Harlem, Renaissance.""1 Experiencing life as the daughter of a white mother and a black father enabled Larsen to view reality from a different perspective. Being an educated and literate woman made her more open to the contradictions of living as an African-American woman in a society that was dominated not only by white ideology, but that blocked women from leading a self-determined and fulfilled life. Writing gave Nella Larsen the chance to critically examine society and make her readers aware of the urgent need to drastically improve it. .
2. "Quicksand- - Helga Crane and her Search for an Identity.
At more moments in my life than I care to admit, I have been Helga Crane. Any woman who has searched for a metaphorical place in the sun, a job where she could be paid what she deserved (despite her ovaries), or sought to fashion a love, or a marriage based on respect and honor for self and partner, has been Helga Crane too."œcc.
As the quote indicates, are the themes depicted in Nella Larsen-s "Quicksand- still prevailing. A woman longing for her inner peace, trying to find out who she is and where she belongs. A woman that has yet to accept her own sensuality and sexuality and who searches for the one relationship where she can express her desires and feelings without feeling ashamed. Helga Crane is therefore a character that stands for all those women trying to figure out where they came from and where they are going. One of them was Nella Larsen herself. The novel has an autobiographical understanding to it that lets the reader find some clues about Larsen's relatively unknown life. The novel's heroine has to deal with many issues that were particularly legitimate during the Harlem Renaissance, but have kept their accuracy until today.