Questions and Answers

People often ask me which of Gertrude Stein’s works they should read first.  Sometimes the question comes from someone who knows very little about GertrudeandAlice.  Sometimes it comes from someone who has heard of them and only knows Gertrude through her most famous quotes: “Rose is a…,” or “No there…” and knows Alice because of her cookbook’s most famous recipe the “H–hish Fudge aka ABT Bro-nies.”

Usually I’ve encouraged them to begin with THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS.  The book is very accessible, written in a straight forward narrative style with just enough touches of Gertrude’s stylistic word-play and chronology shuffling to let the reader know that this masterpiece of modernist literature is just that – a masterpiece of modernist literature.

But there is another book that both the GertrudeandAlice novice and the GertrudeandAlice fanatic should have, first on their night stand and then in their book shelf,  Renate Stendhal’s GERTRUDE STEIN IN WORDS AND PICTURES (Algonquin Books, 1994, 2009).  The book was originally published in German in 1989 with the English edition following five years later.  For several years this photobiography was out-of-print, but fortunately it is again available.

What makes the book a must-have for the GertrudeandAlice enthusiast is that it can be perused in a number of ways all of which provide a broader appreciation for the literary genius of Gertrude Stein and the multi-faceted genius of Alice B. Toklas.  It is a book that can be experienced as a photo album with studio photographs as well as intimate snapshots; as an introductory literature course providing a sampling from all of Stein’s major works; or as a photobiography of one of the most famous couples of the 20th century and in a way a photobiography of the literary and visual artists of first fifty years of that century since so many of them were part of GertrudeandAlice’s charmed circle.

In her extremely informative introduction to the book, Renate states: “My choice of pictures and texts is not intended to solve the mystery of Gertrude Stein’s identity.  My intention is to sow clues for the reader.” And the choice of photographs and accompanying excerpts from books and letters by GertrudeandAlice and their contemporaries provide many a fascinating clue and many intriguing facts organized in timelines that precede each chapter.

I have known Renate since 1998 when she presented a program showcasing this book at the San Francisco Public Library as part of my first GertrudeandAlice exhibition in the Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center in the library. Since then we have collaborated on several GertrudeandAlice projects and have lost track of time discussing all things GertrudeandAlice at our periodic lunches.

Susan Sontag wrote his classic book ON PHOTOGRAPHY:

“Photography makes us feel that the world is more available than it really is.”

Luckily the photographs and text in Renate’s book GERTRUDE STEIN IN WORDS AND PICTURES make the world of GertrudeandAlice truly available and real – no small feat when dealing with such larger than life figures.

Note: To follow Renate on her blog, go to: www.shewrites.com/profiles/blog/list?user=1fxhrwbaix6wi

Tagged Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein in Words and Pictures, On Photography, Renate Stendhal, Susan Sontag, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas