African-American poet and novelist's pioneering 1912 novel parallels his own life, examines American caste and class system.

Remarkable novel relates, through an anonymous narrator, events in the life of an American of mixed ethnicity whose exceptional abilities allow him to move freely in society-from the rural South to the urban North and eventually, Europe. A revolutionary work which not only probes the psychological aspects of passing for white but also examines the American caste and class system.