{"id":5196,"date":"2014-05-14T11:23:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-14T18:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/?p=5196"},"modified":"2014-05-21T21:24:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T04:24:27","slug":"gertrude-beds-a-lover-and-it-aint-alice-b-or-mabel-dodge-rated-r-for-regretable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/14\/gertrude-beds-a-lover-and-it-aint-alice-b-or-mabel-dodge-rated-r-for-regretable\/","title":{"rendered":"Gertrude Beds a Lover and It Ain\u2019t Alice B. or Mabel Dodge?! [rated “R” for “Regrettable.”]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cnice,\u201d (s)he is often suspected of being in cahoots with what is being evaluated.\u00a0 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\u2019s credentials and move on to the critiques of other writers.<\/p>\n

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<\/b>, but that is where the simplicity ends. \u00a0My response to the book after reading it is far from simple and is, in many respects, very complicated and perplexing.\u00a0 The book is published by Interlink Publishing whose tagline is\u00a0 \u201cChanging the Way People Think About the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"imgres\"<\/p>\n

How about replacing a few words making it \u201cChanging the Way People Think About Literary Icons by Dragging Them Through the Mud?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My dear friend Denny Stein, a cousin of Gertrude\u2019s, once said to me in regards to her famous cuz,\u00a0 \u201cEveryone thinks they own her.\u201d\u00a0 I certainly feel that I own at least a part of her after almost 30 years of being in her company. That\u2019s why I have such strong negative feelings about this book.<\/p>\n

The author of GERTRUDE<\/b> also thinks he owns her and I don\u2019t like it! \u00a0I like it even less, when he has his central character, a young North African lad, jump into bed with her, \u00a0first in Morocco and then at 27 rue de Fleurus.\u00a0 Alice is downstairs and should be crying in her soup! (There is also a scene in which all three of them are in bed together \u2013 that for me was the bale of straw that broke the camel\u2019s back!)<\/p>\n

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a pretty level-headed, not too excitable guy with an undercurrent of subtle humor.\u00a0 So when I do get upset, something really bad must have gotten my goat. (Love that idiom!)<\/p>\n

To begin at the beginning. I am a fan of historical novels, especially ones in which the writer has found an obscure individual in the life of a famous person and builds a story around him or her. One of my favorites, which celebrates its 10th<\/sup> anniversary this year, is Monique Truong\u2019s THE BOOK OF SALT.<\/b> In it she creatively interweaves the lives of GertrudeandAlice with the life of Binh, their Vietnamese cook, a composite of the various southeast Asian servants described in Alice\u2019s cookbook.<\/p>\n

\"imgres\"<\/p>\n

GERTRUDE<\/b> is no THE BOOK OF SALT<\/b>.<\/p>\n

So, to present the source of my quandary.<\/p>\n

During a trip to Tangier in 1912, GertrudeandAlice had a young, Moroccan guide named Muhammad. \u00a0This episode appears in both THE<\/b> AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS <\/b>and in Alice\u2019s memoir WHAT IS REMEMBERED<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\"Tangier,

Tangier, 1912. Where’s Gertrude?<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/b>Muhammad, who was an adopted son of the sultan of Tangier, had been\u00a0 assigned to them since parts of the city were dangerous for unescorted foreigners.\u00a0 In the novel, Muhammad and Gertrude really hit it off to the point that they have their first intimate moment right there in a hotel room in Tangier. \u00a0(Too bad that what happened in Tangier didn’t stay in Tangier!) They are so infatuated with each other, that Gertrude invites \u201cMo\u201d (yes, that\u2019s what she calls him. Maybe \u201cMu\u201d would have been more appropriate, in light of the meaning of the word \u201ccow\u201d in her writings!) to come to Paris to stay at 27 rue de Fleurus.<\/p>\n

\""Say

“Say it ain’t so!”<\/p><\/div>\n

I know that Gertrude was a very sensual and sexual woman, exciting both genders. Hemingway wrote to a friend that he\u2019d like to\u201d fuck\u201d her \u00a0(that is<\/strong> the word he\u00a0<\/b>used) and another young man recalled how he became sexually excited standing near her. \u00a0(I will not use one of the crass terms for that state.) Many of her writings, \u201cLifting Belly,\u201d being one of the most sensuous, not to mention her love-notes to Alice (oops, maybe it wasn\u2019t always Alice?!), \u00a0are sexually explicit, though they have had to be decoded and are the subject of much scholarly interpretation.<\/p>\n

Should I care if Gertrude Stein is presented as a bisexual?\u00a0 It is not so much her purported bisexually in the novel that concerns me, but the fact that Gertrude\u2019s relationship with Alice comes across as so minor.\u00a0 There is also no respect for either of them as women by the author, \u00a0with Gertrude referred to as a \u201crhinoceros\u201d and more than once as a \u201cpig\u201d and Alice as a \u201cbuzzard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Happier,

Happier, monogamous days?<\/p><\/div>\n

What makes the story-telling even more complicated, and often confusing, is that the narrator, Abu Hasan, \u00a0a journalist friend of Muhammad,was asked by him at the end of his life to write about his life in Paris and his trysts with Gertrude. He notes their conversations and uses Muhammad\u2019s journal to piece the story and relationship together.<\/p>\n

Abu, before he goes to Paris, befriends an employee of the U.S. embassy in Rabat, to the point of having an affair with her (lust is in the air everywhere), who somehow miraculously knows a lot about Gertrude Stein. \u00a0She helps him maneuver the Gertrude and Mo (I really want to say \u201cShow\u201d) liaison.<\/p>\n

\"Will

Will the real Moe please step forward.<\/p><\/div>\n

Enough? Well, just one more gripe.<\/p>\n

The timeframe during which events occur in Paris upon Muhammad\u2019s\u00a0 arrival are both confusing and disconcerting for anyone who is familiar with Gertrude\u2019s life and her circle of friends. Of course the writer of historical fiction has the freedom to compress dates and introduce historical characters at whatever point he feels they fit into the story.\u00a0 But every time an incorrect reference came up or a character appeared historically premature or tardy, I cringed \u2013 but that\u2019s my \u201cOwnership-of-Gertrude\u201d coming through. (There was an ongoing reference to their \u201clittle dog,\u201d so I\u2019m not sure if that was Basket as a puppy or Pep\u00e9, their Chihuahua. \u201cKarl Von Feichten,\u201d later in the book became \u201cCarl Van Vechten, that\u2019s the correct name!\u201d And <\/b>Gertrude wanted to give Muhammad a signed copy of her first book, QED, <\/b>which wasn\u2019t published until 1952 after her death. Mo would have had about a 40 year wait for that book! Her first book was THREE LIVES<\/b> (1909).<\/p>\n

\"This

This is my<\/strong> GertrudeandAlice !<\/p><\/div>\n

To continue my animal idioms from camel, to goat and now to horse:<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean to beat a dead horse, but one final indignation.<\/p>\n

At the end of many books there is an Appendix which either lists sources or additional information pertinent to the book. In this case, there is a section called \u201cDESTINIES (A SHORT GUIDE).\u201d\u00a0 The \u201cguide\u201d presents the fate of the primary characters after the novel\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

The egregious and slanderous information given about Gertrude includes that in her will she left \u201cher valuable art collection to the new Guggenheim Museum in New York City.\u201d FALSE: it was taken from Alice by the wife of Gertrude\u2019s nephew, Allen, and later sold and dispersed after Alice\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\""I

“I know the Stein collection is here, why else would there be that line?”<\/p><\/div>\n

Following the erroneous museum entry, is: \u201cShe left nothing to Alice B. Toklas.\u201d FALSE: In her will Gertrude left everything to Alice except for the Picasso portrait which went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<\/p>\n

Enough said.<\/p>\n

Read the book if you\u2019re curious, as it does take imagination, time and commitment to write a novel, but be forewarned. \u00a0Many of you, as loyal readers of this blog, \u00a0probably know more about GertrudeandAlice than did the reader of the translated manuscript of this book or the editor who approved this English edition.<\/p>\n

Get ready for a bumpy historical ride. \u00a0Don’t throw your e -reader to the floor or rip out a page from the book when our GertrudeandAlice are portrayed more like a\u00a0lascivious\u00a0Oliver Hardy and simpering (which he was) Stan Laurel, than the “Ladies of 27” \u00a0that we’ve come to “own” and love.<\/p>\n

APPENDIX<\/p>\n

“Stowner,” n. anyone who owns a part of Gertrude Stein and is also a fan of Alice’s cookbook.<\/p>\n

\""And

“And here’s to you Mrs. Robinson…”<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Tom's<\/p>\n

P.S.<\/p>\n

“Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.” – Leo Rosten<\/p>\n

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

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 \u201cnice,\u201d (s)he is often suspected of being in cahoots with what is being evaluated.\u00a0 If a critic is too harsh, (s)he is often branded as someone who has lots […]<\/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":[5],"tags":[89,328,162,210],"class_list":["post-5196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-gertrude-stein","tag-hassan-najmi","tag-monique-truong","tag-the-book-of-salt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5196","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=5196"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5275,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5196\/revisions\/5275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gertrudeandalice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}