World War II
Passing (Nella Larsen Edition)World War II is invoked as a historical boundary rather than as an event in the novel’s plot. It helps define the interwar period in which the 1920s world surrounding Clare Kendry’s travels is situated, giving that setting a chronology that extends beyond the scenes directly narrated.
Chronological Context
The explanatory note places Clare Kendry’s travels through France, Germany, England, and Austria-Hungary during World War I and its aftermath, from 1914 to 1926. It describes the period between World War I and World War II, particularly the 1920s, as the Silver Age of Budapest. In this framing, World War II marks the far boundary of a historical interval whose earlier years shape the novel’s European references.
Relation to the Novel
World War II does not appear here as a narrated conflict or a turning point in Clare Kendry’s personal story. Its significance is contextual: naming the later endpoint distinguishes the novel’s interwar references from the subsequent historical period. The reference also situates the 1920s Budapest associated with elite travel and leisure within a finite historical span, rather than treating its gaiety as timeless.
