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Fiction: 1900 to the 1930s

Fiction: 1900 to the 1930s American Literary Scholarship (2009) doi 10.1215/00659142-1264819 © 2011 by Duke University Press a theory may be, it should above all enable readers to better understand and appreciate a literary work. i Gertrude Stein In her compact critical biography Gertrude Stein (Reaktion) Lucy Daniel covers the years of Stein’s youth in America sufficiently to support her many claims. Stein’s expatriate Parisian years are well accounted for as is the war period she spent in a French village. Daniel also portrays Alice B. Toklas well without minimizing her importance as Stein’s consultant or overwriting her relationship as Stein’s “spouse.” Her discussion of selected writings is clear and informative; those on such major works as The Making of Americans and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas are especially rewarding. Daniel often illuminates Stein’s puzzling statements by explaining that the author uses the words for themselves rather than their meaning in any given context. Stein enjoyed open-endedness, she says, and “saw no other way to write or live. . . . There is nothing final about it.” “Her work was an exploration of indeterminacy”; because she created her own life in it, separating them is virtually impossible. Despite lacking a useful table http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Literary Scholarship Duke University Press

Fiction: 1900 to the 1930s

American Literary Scholarship , Volume 2009 (1) – Jan 1, 2011

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References (1)

Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright © Duke Univ Press
ISSN
0065-9142
eISSN
1527-2125
DOI
10.1215/00659142-1264819
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

American Literary Scholarship (2009) doi 10.1215/00659142-1264819 © 2011 by Duke University Press a theory may be, it should above all enable readers to better understand and appreciate a literary work. i Gertrude Stein In her compact critical biography Gertrude Stein (Reaktion) Lucy Daniel covers the years of Stein’s youth in America sufficiently to support her many claims. Stein’s expatriate Parisian years are well accounted for as is the war period she spent in a French village. Daniel also portrays Alice B. Toklas well without minimizing her importance as Stein’s consultant or overwriting her relationship as Stein’s “spouse.” Her discussion of selected writings is clear and informative; those on such major works as The Making of Americans and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas are especially rewarding. Daniel often illuminates Stein’s puzzling statements by explaining that the author uses the words for themselves rather than their meaning in any given context. Stein enjoyed open-endedness, she says, and “saw no other way to write or live. . . . There is nothing final about it.” “Her work was an exploration of indeterminacy”; because she created her own life in it, separating them is virtually impossible. Despite lacking a useful table

Journal

American Literary ScholarshipDuke University Press

Published: Jan 1, 2011

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