Questions and Answers

The role of a critic in any field, whether in the arts, food, fashion and so on, is a balancing act. If a critic is too “nice,” (s)he is often suspected of being in cahoots with what is being evaluated.  If a critic is too harsh, (s)he is often branded as someone who has lots of bad days and is taking it out on someone else. And if a critic is wishy-washy, readers often question the critic’s credentials and move on to the critiques of other writers.

A few weeks ago, a friend sent me an e mail mentioning a new novel which features Gertrude Stein as a central character. It was written by a respected Moroccan poet, Hassan Najmi , and has recently been translated into English. It is simply called GERTRUDE, but that is where the simplicity ends.  My response to the book after reading it is far from simple and is, in many respects, very complicated and perplexing.  The book is published by Interlink Publishing whose tagline is  “Changing the Way People Think About the World.”

How about replacing a few words making it “Changing the Way People Think About Literary Icons by Dragging Them Through the Mud?”

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Every year brings with it landmark events and 1877 was no different.

So today, the 135^th birthday of Alice B. Toklas, let’s take a look at some of the happenings of that year and how maybe, just maybe, they shaped the life of the infant born that day on O’Farrell Street in San Francisco.

The streets of San Francisco 1877

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The gift giving holiday season  drew  to a close several weeks ago with Epiphany,  January 6th, the day that according to legend the Magi arrived to give the Christ child their gifts. Two of the regal visitors brought somewhat useless gifts, frankincense and myrrh, and one gift, that small chest of gold, must have come in handy for his young, homeless parents. But come to think of it, all three gifts were far more useful than the 12 lords a-leaping that end that dreadful “Twelve Days of Christmas” dirge!

The Epiphany a la Lego!

Although this year’s holiday “must-have” electronic devices proved to be diverse, from this “I-thing” to that “I-thing,” one of the best-selling, non-I-things, was amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader.

The Kindle I have was handed down to me when an I-Pad entered our household. (The days of hand-me-down itchy sweaters or too short corduroy  pants are long gone!)

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“My Mesdames began preparing for it months in advance. They placed orders for new dresses, gloves and shoes. Nothing was extravagant, but everything was luxurious, waistcoats embroidered with flowers and several kinds of birds, traveling outfits in handsome tweeds with brown velvet trims and buttons, shoes identical except for the heels and the size.”

– THE BOOK OF SALT (2003) by Monique Truong

Seventy-five years ago today, GertrudeandAlice arrived in San Francisco as part of their 1934-35 U.S. lecture tour.  They drove from Los Angeles in a rental car. (Gertrude had been introduced to the concept of car rentals on a Chicago stop and was fascinated by it.)

Gertrude had not been in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than forty years and Alice returned after leaving for Paris in 1907.

For eleven days they were regaled by the City staying at the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill and spending the days at luncheons and lectures and visiting some of the places they had known many of which had changed since the 1906 fire and earthquake.

Top of the Mark, San Francisco circa 1930s

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