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Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946)
Arriving in Europe in 1903, Gertrude Stein settled with her brother Leo in Paris, where they studied the avant-garde art and befriended Matisse and Picasso. Two years later she was joined by Etta Cone, an old friend from Baltimore, with whom she had a brief affair and who she also introduced to modern art. Etta later returned to the US, where she played a significant role in the introduction of modern art to that country. In 1907, Stein met Alice B. Toklas, the woman who would become the love of her life. Alice, nicknamed "Pussy" by Gertrude, cooked and cleaned for her while she worked at her writing. A self-described genius, Gertrude's reputation as a brillaint writer and wit quickly gained her many admirers. After World War I, the "Lost Generation" (a term Gertrude herself coined) of writers and artists began to settle in Paris, and were frequent guests at the apartment Gertrude shared with Alice. Here Gertrude met, befriended, and served as mentor for Robert McAlmon, Sherwood Anderson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Mercedes de Acosta and Virgil Thomson. Stein tried and failed to convince the young Hemingway to acknowledge his own homosexuality, though he did take and use her advice on his writings. She also wrote the libretto for Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts(1927) and his 1947 opera Mother of Us All, about the life of Susan B. Anthony. In 1933, Gertrude Stein wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, an observation of herself and the many authors, artists, and other figures she knew, using Alice as her narrator. The book's oft times unflattering protrayal of these persons led to a counter-attack against her, which was published in 1935. Her other works included Tender Buttons(1914) and Three Lives (1909). Q.E.D. was one of the first books to speak explicitly of lesbian love, in a novel based on her first youthful romance in Baltimore, though Gertrude did not allow its publication nor that of her love poems to Alice during her lifetime. Influenced by the cubist painters, Gertrude Stein sought to write in a style that concentrated on the present moment and used repeated yet slightly varied words and expressions. Perhaps the best known example of this is her famous expression, "A rose is a rose is a rose." Unfortunately, this style tended to put her work beyond the grasp of the general reading public. Still, she was a significant influence on many writers, and has continued to be today, and was certainly one of the key developers of modern literature. It was probably her American citizenship and celebrity which helped Gertrude and Alice, both Jews, to survive the German occupation of France during World War II. Her courageous survival and her friendships with American servicemen who liberated Paris added to her legend. One of her last works, Brewsie and Willy (1946), was inspired by the American soldiers she met and befriended. She died in Paris of cancer the same year this novel was published. Gertrude Stein's works include Three Lives (1909); Tender Buttons (1914); Geography and Plays (1922); The Making of Americans (1925); Composition as Explanation (1926); An Acquaintance with Description (1926); Useful Knowledge (1928); Lucy Church Amiably (1930); How To Write (1931); Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded (1931); Operas and Plays (1932); The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933); Matisse, Picasso and Gertrude Stein (1933); Portraits and Prayers (1934); Lectures in America (1935); Narration (1935); The Geographical History of America or the Relation of Human Nature to the Human Mind (1936); Everybody's Autobiography (1937); Picasso (1938); The World is Round (1939); Paris France (1939); What are Master-pieces (1940); Ida, A Novel (1941); Wars I Have Seen (1944); Brewsie and Willie (1946); Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein (1946). Posthumously published works include Four In America (1947); The Gertrude Stein First Reader and Three Plays (1948); Blood On The Dining-Room Floor (1948); Last Operas and Plays (1949); Things As They Are (1950); Two: Gertrude Stein and Her Brother (1951); Mrs Reynolds and Five Earlier Novelettes (1952); Bee Time Vine and Other Pieces (1953); As Fine as Melanctha (1954); Painted Lace and Other Pieces (1955); Stanzas in Meditation and Other Poems (1956); Alphabets and Birthday (1957); and A Novel of Thank You (1958). Links: A Complete Bibliography of Works by Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Reflections of History Knitting Circle Gertrude Stein Michael Powers: Gertrude Stein Resources Mother of Us All, The - New York City Opera Synopsis
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