The Greene Space at WNYC & WQXR | Get Lit with All of It: Passing (VIRTUAL) @GreeneSpaceNY | Uploaded December 2021 | Updated October 2024, 1 day ago.
Alison Stewart, host of WNYC’s All Of It, continues her virtual book club series with the 1929 novel Passing by Nella Larsen. In this installment of Get Lit, Alison will speak with writer and director Rebecca Hall about adapting Passing for the big screen. The film stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, and is available to stream now on Netflix. Alison will also talk to artist and composer Dev Hynes, who also records under the stage name Blood Orange. He will discuss composing the film’s score.
In Passing, the protagonist Irene Redfield is living an affluent, enviable life with her husband and children in the thriving African American enclave of Harlem in the 1920s. That is, until she runs into her childhood friend, Clare Kendry. Since they last saw each other, Clare, who is similarly light-skinned, has been “passing” for a white woman, married to a racist man who does not know about his wife’s real identity, which she has chosen to hide from the rest of the world. Irene is both fascinated and repulsed by Clare’s dangerous secret, and in turn, Clare yearns for Irene’s sense of ease and security with her Black identity and community, which Clare gave up in pursuit of a more advantageous life, and which she can never embrace again. As the two women grow close, Clare begins to insert herself and her deception into every part of Irene’s stable existence, and their complex reunion sets off a chain of events that dynamically alters both women forever.
In this psychologically gripping and chilling novel, Nella Larsen explores the blurriness of race, sacrifice, alienation, and desire that defined her own experience as a woman of mixed race, issues that still powerfully resonate today. Ultimately, Larsen forces us to consider whether we can ever truly choose who we are.
How it Works
Get the book, reach out to a friend to join, and read along with Alison and Team All Of It
Follow @allofitwnyc on Instagram
where you’ll find polls, questions, fun facts and pictures of other readers
Watch the live video stream here on this page as Alison talks with the author
Viewers are encouraged to submit their questions for the guests on Twitter and Instagram.
All Of It teams up with the New York Public Library so that New Yorkers can access the book for free through the NYPL app.
Stay up to date with upcoming events at The Greene Space by signing up for our newsletter:
https://thegreenespace.org/contact-us...
Follow The Greene Space on social:
Facebook: facebook.com/thegreenespace
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenespace...
Twitter: twitter.com/TheGreeneSpace
The Greene Space is funded by you. Make a monthly donation of $10 or more to support us and all the programs and podcasts you love from WNYC, WQXR, Gothamist and more!
https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/tgs/o...
Alison Stewart, host of WNYC’s All Of It, continues her virtual book club series with the 1929 novel Passing by Nella Larsen. In this installment of Get Lit, Alison will speak with writer and director Rebecca Hall about adapting Passing for the big screen. The film stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, and is available to stream now on Netflix. Alison will also talk to artist and composer Dev Hynes, who also records under the stage name Blood Orange. He will discuss composing the film’s score.
In Passing, the protagonist Irene Redfield is living an affluent, enviable life with her husband and children in the thriving African American enclave of Harlem in the 1920s. That is, until she runs into her childhood friend, Clare Kendry. Since they last saw each other, Clare, who is similarly light-skinned, has been “passing” for a white woman, married to a racist man who does not know about his wife’s real identity, which she has chosen to hide from the rest of the world. Irene is both fascinated and repulsed by Clare’s dangerous secret, and in turn, Clare yearns for Irene’s sense of ease and security with her Black identity and community, which Clare gave up in pursuit of a more advantageous life, and which she can never embrace again. As the two women grow close, Clare begins to insert herself and her deception into every part of Irene’s stable existence, and their complex reunion sets off a chain of events that dynamically alters both women forever.
In this psychologically gripping and chilling novel, Nella Larsen explores the blurriness of race, sacrifice, alienation, and desire that defined her own experience as a woman of mixed race, issues that still powerfully resonate today. Ultimately, Larsen forces us to consider whether we can ever truly choose who we are.
How it Works
Get the book, reach out to a friend to join, and read along with Alison and Team All Of It
Follow @allofitwnyc on Instagram
where you’ll find polls, questions, fun facts and pictures of other readers
Watch the live video stream here on this page as Alison talks with the author
Viewers are encouraged to submit their questions for the guests on Twitter and Instagram.
All Of It teams up with the New York Public Library so that New Yorkers can access the book for free through the NYPL app.
Stay up to date with upcoming events at The Greene Space by signing up for our newsletter:
https://thegreenespace.org/contact-us...
Follow The Greene Space on social:
Facebook: facebook.com/thegreenespace
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenespace...
Twitter: twitter.com/TheGreeneSpace
The Greene Space is funded by you. Make a monthly donation of $10 or more to support us and all the programs and podcasts you love from WNYC, WQXR, Gothamist and more!
https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/tgs/o...
