{"id":4818,"date":"2013-04-29T09:32:02","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T16:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/?p=4818"},"modified":"2013-04-29T15:27:39","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T22:27:39","slug":"the-autobiography-by-any-other-names-and-a-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/29\/the-autobiography-by-any-other-names-and-a-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"The Autobiography by Any Other Name(s)…and Two Birthdays"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas<\/strong> was published 80 years ago this fall. \u00a0What better way to celebrate this anniversary and Alice’s birthday on April 30th (Happy 136 !), \u00a0than with another autobiography, but not just any autobiography would do and it hasn’t!<\/p>\n

\"The

The 1933 Autobiography:
“Bedtime, Pussy?”<\/p><\/div>\n

Just a few weeks ago THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART<\/strong> by Filip Noterdaeme was published by Outpost19. Honoring the style of Stein’s faux-biography, Noterdaeme writes about his partner and their life together. \u00a0They are the new expats, one from Belgium, one from Germany, and their Paris is Brooklyn, New York City, the Hamptons and beyond.<\/p>\n

But who are FilipandDaniel, the GertrudeandAlice of the 21st<\/sup> century, whose book ushers in the 80th<\/sup> anniversary year of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Only a few facts here as the book tells their story and tells it with humor and style and a genuine affection and respect for the original telling of that other expat partnership that began more than 100 years ago.<\/p>\n

\"FilipandDaniel

FilipandDaniel (right to left) photograph by Steven Spellotis<\/p><\/div>\n

Filip Noterdaeme, the one from Belgium, is a conceptual artist, Art Establishment provocateur and founder of HOMU, Homeless Museum of Art. (The story of the Museum with its history of open door, closed door, outdoor, and visit-by- appointment machinations is a vital and central theme of the book.)<\/p>\n

Daniel J. Isengart, the one from Germany, is described in his autobiography \u00a0as \u201ca pretty good housekeeper, and a pretty good cook, and a pretty good handyman and a pretty good singer and a pretty good translator for songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

They met in 1999 and have been inseparable ever since – sound familiar?<\/p>\n

In addition to being written a la Gertrude\u2019s Alice ( the Publisher\u2019s note indicates \u201cThe unique syntax, punctuation and capitalization\u2026are in meticulous homage.\u201d) the design of the book \u00a0captures some of the elements of the original, American first edition. Each book has seven chapters with similar titles, the fonts and layout of the covers are similar including that mysterious white dot! \u00a0The covers also feature a photograph of each couple: FilipandDaniel are in bed (Yes, that is Madame Butterfly! Why? You’ll need to read the book!) while in the Man Ray photo of the original I conjecture that Alice is entering the room to entice Gertrude to the boudoir!<\/p>\n

\"423773691_640\"<\/p>\n

Eighty years ago, Gertrude’s book was widely reviewed and its popularity resulted in the six month long U.S. lecture tour in 1934-35. \u00a0What better tribute to this new autobiography than to acknowledge its creativity through the words of the reviewers from 1933?!<\/p>\n

I have italicized the words that I have replaced in the original reviews. \u00a0It is uncanny how these reviews could also have been written about\u00a0THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART<\/strong> by Filip Noterdaeme!<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cIn The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart<\/em>, <\/b>Mr. Daniel Isengart<\/i>, the faithful friend of Filip Noterdaeme<\/i>, describes the life, opinions, and conversations of Mr. Noterdaeme<\/i>, with the help of Mr. Noterdaeme\u2019s<\/i> pen.\u00a0 He<\/i> knows Mr. Noterdaeme<\/i> very well, and the picture is very true.\u00a0 Of course it is also a picture of New York\u00a0<\/i>\u2026 and artistic New York<\/i>, cosmopolitan New York<\/i>\u2026the streets of New York\u00a0<\/i>and the studios of New York<\/i>.\u00a0 It is a picture of the birth and growth of that new art which has shocked so many people and which has become such an essential feature of our modern life.\u00a0 It is a very rich picture of a very rich world, and it is a big panorama where hundreds of people come and go, but of course the center of the picture and the best part of it is Mr. Noterdaeme<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u2026I could add many,\u00a0 many things.\u00a0 But they do not really matter very much: only the book matters and the life in the book; there is so much life in it that it is the fullest and gayest book I have read\u00a0 for many years.<\/p>\n

\""Dior

“Dior Duo,” from a new mixed media series by H. Gallas!<\/p><\/div>\n

It is full and gay and queer and unexpected all along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernard Fa\u00ff,\u00a0 \u201cThe Saturday Review of Literature, \u201c September 2, 1933<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cThe presence of his<\/i> peculiar character and intelligence is excitingly strong thoroughout the pages of The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0 It is so evident that already I have heard plaints by those who have seen the book before publication, that his<\/i> opinions on art, on life, on friends, are all made flatly with an implied denial of the right of contradiction.\u00a0 This is not true.\u00a0 In conversation, in life, as in his<\/i> writing, Filip Noterdaeme<\/em> has cleared away a great deal of rubbish. \u00a0He<\/i> is eminently of the twenty-first<\/i> century and has no time for such phrases as \u201cif I may say so,\u201d or \u201cin my opinion,\u201d and this is extremely refreshing.\u00a0 It saves a great deal of time.<\/p>\n

\""Dries

“Dries Duet,” by H. Gallas<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u2026The Autobiography of Daniel J. Isengart <\/i><\/b>is a fascinating book.\u00a0 It is also historical even in American writing as well as in the history of modern art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Louis Bromfield, \u201cThe New York Herald-Tribune Books,\u201d \u00a0September 3, 1933<\/p>\n

\u00a0***<\/p>\n

\u00a0And then there was a spoof of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS <\/b>by Frank Sullivan in the July 1, 1933 issue of The New Yorker<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 It was written before the book was published except \u00a0in serialized form in The Atlantic<\/i> Monthly<\/i>.\u00a0 To avoid making this piece truly convoluted and confusing, I am quoting an excerpt from that article exactly as it was written, no italicized substitutions:<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the idea for writing this autobiography from a very interesting series of articles now appearing in The Atlantic Monthly, called The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.\u00a0 My name also being \u201cAlice B.,\u201d I naturally read them.\u00a0 One of the many interesting things about The Autobiography of Alice b. Toklas is that it was not written by Alice B. Toklas at all.\u00a0 It was written by Gertrude Stein\u2026<\/p>\n

\"helen-e-hokinson-the-new-yorker-cover-july-1-1933\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0I said to myself, \u201cWell, if Alice B. Toklas can have her autobiography written, I guess Alice B. Sullivan can, too,\u201d so I called up my very dear friend Frank Sullivan, and asked him if he would come directly over and write my autobiography.\u00a0 He did, and this is my autobiography, by Frank Sullivan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I think I have met three authentic geniuses in my life.\u00a0 They were Frank Sullivan, Pussyfoot Johnson, and a perfectly charming man I once met on the Number Three Fifth Avenue bus.\u00a0 I forget his name.<\/p>\n

\u2026Frank wrote the now famous Tender Bean<\/i>, which began like this: Oh bean bean venus have you fallen fallen on frank frank\u2019s bean question mark yes oh ouch cuts abrasions and contusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank wrote Tender Bean <\/i>in chalk on the sidewalk in front of 277 Park Avenue.\u00a0 He was arrested for it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

And my review:<\/p>\n

“Get this book !”<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

To see more about the book and FilipandDaniel, go to:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.outpost19.com\/Autobiography\/index.html<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.homelessmuseum.org\/hmu_pages\/the_autobiography.html<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART<\/strong> may be ordered online or check with your local bookstore.<\/p>\n

Get it and you will make Alice’s birthday extra special this year!<\/p>\n

PS<\/p>\n

After posting this, I received a very gracious e mail from Filip and in it he also mentioned that April 30th is Daniel’s birthday !!<\/p>\n

“Uncanny is uncanny is uncanny is uncanny ! !”<\/p>\n

\"YellowRose\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was published 80 years ago this fall. \u00a0What better way to celebrate this anniversary and Alice’s birthday on April 30th (Happy 136 !), \u00a0than with another autobiography, but not just any autobiography would do and it hasn’t! Just a few weeks ago THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL J. ISENGART by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[275,307,306,312,89,310,311,308,309,208,305],"class_list":["post-4818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-historic-facts","category-news","tag-bernard-fay","tag-daniel-j-isengart","tag-filip-noterdaeme","tag-frank-sullivan-alice-b-toklas","tag-gertrude-stein","tag-homeless-museum-of-art","tag-louis-bromfield","tag-outpost19","tag-steven-spellotis","tag-the-autobiography-of-alice-b-toklas","tag-the-autobiography-of-daniel-j-isengart"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4818"}],"version-history":[{"count":60,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4888,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4818\/revisions\/4888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}