Bibliography
Dec. 12th, 2006 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_lady_lilyThe Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas - Gertrude Stein
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is not, in fact, Alice Toklas' autobiography, but Gertrude Stein's impression of what such a thing would look like. It's the first time I've read any of Stein's work, and I have to say that her style is somewhat difficult to get through. She is very anti-capital letters for countries/nationalities, pro simple and short sentences, and anti 'unneeded' punctuation. In some places it reads like the work of a very talented twelve year old who needs a closer relationship with the comma. Once one has got past these issues of modernist style, the short work is relatively interesting; rather than a story of Toklas' life, it proves to be an account of Stein's. People have read a lot into this about the relationship between Stein and Toklas, and how the pair of them related to each other; in particular, Stein's appropriate of Toklas' identity in order to write her own story has been seen a particularly interesting, as has the 'misuse' of the autobiographical format.
The fundamental interest of the material, of course, is the account of the life that Stein and Toklas lived together in Paris, and the famous people they met. Stein's relationship with Picasso and the story behind the famous Portrait, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is fascinating, as is Stein's role as a patron of the modern art movement in Paris at the same time as trying to create her own identity as a writer. It's all quite fascinating, as is the way the couple threw themselves into war work during the first World War. The book was written in 1933, so WWII had not yet broken upon them; I do wonder what the book would have looked like if Stein had waited a couple of years.
An interesting read, and I suspect probably one of Stein's more approachable - it definitely helps to have an interest in the time period, otherwise you may find yourself wondering why you bothered.
Painted Shadow - Carole Seymour-Jones
Painted Shadow is Seymour-Jones' attempt to 'recover' Vivienne Eliot, first wife of T. S. Eliot, who was committed to an asylum and died without seeing her husband for over ten years. It's all a bit odd. Seymour-Jones does a good job of tying some threads together, but doesn't really address the contradictions that sit there - for instance, why Vivienne's support of Eliot during the launch of the journal Criterion and her creative contribution to The Wasteland suddenly disintegrates into apparently hatred and discord. Plus it's never quite clear why Vivienne never quite gets her own creative life off the ground, but there we go.
Seymour-Jones is also mildly obsessed with reading Eliot's poetry with a psychoanalytic tinge, and trying to mine out a seam of homosexuality which seems to be rather odd in comparision with the sexual freedom of the Bloomsbury set, with whom Eliot and Vivienne were involved. It's a bit concerning, to be honest. The book has certainly done a good job of uncovering some new threads and bits of information, and certainly gives the impression of Vivienne as a woman who was overmedicated due to the state of medical knowledge at the time, and whose 'insanity' was probably manipulated by her husband and brother to some extent to get her committed. But I'm not quite sure I'd go as far as Seymour-Jones obviously wants to go. Certainly the myth Eliot built up of Vivienne's frailty and his strength had already been exploded by my reading of his letters, but there are flaws with this book. See the New Yorker's review for some more thorough criticism.
Honestly, I do ask myself why on earth these people get married in the first place when it's quite clear that they have absolutely nothing in common and no firm basis upon which to build a common life.
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is not, in fact, Alice Toklas' autobiography, but Gertrude Stein's impression of what such a thing would look like. It's the first time I've read any of Stein's work, and I have to say that her style is somewhat difficult to get through. She is very anti-capital letters for countries/nationalities, pro simple and short sentences, and anti 'unneeded' punctuation. In some places it reads like the work of a very talented twelve year old who needs a closer relationship with the comma. Once one has got past these issues of modernist style, the short work is relatively interesting; rather than a story of Toklas' life, it proves to be an account of Stein's. People have read a lot into this about the relationship between Stein and Toklas, and how the pair of them related to each other; in particular, Stein's appropriate of Toklas' identity in order to write her own story has been seen a particularly interesting, as has the 'misuse' of the autobiographical format.
The fundamental interest of the material, of course, is the account of the life that Stein and Toklas lived together in Paris, and the famous people they met. Stein's relationship with Picasso and the story behind the famous Portrait, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is fascinating, as is Stein's role as a patron of the modern art movement in Paris at the same time as trying to create her own identity as a writer. It's all quite fascinating, as is the way the couple threw themselves into war work during the first World War. The book was written in 1933, so WWII had not yet broken upon them; I do wonder what the book would have looked like if Stein had waited a couple of years.
An interesting read, and I suspect probably one of Stein's more approachable - it definitely helps to have an interest in the time period, otherwise you may find yourself wondering why you bothered.
Painted Shadow - Carole Seymour-Jones
Painted Shadow is Seymour-Jones' attempt to 'recover' Vivienne Eliot, first wife of T. S. Eliot, who was committed to an asylum and died without seeing her husband for over ten years. It's all a bit odd. Seymour-Jones does a good job of tying some threads together, but doesn't really address the contradictions that sit there - for instance, why Vivienne's support of Eliot during the launch of the journal Criterion and her creative contribution to The Wasteland suddenly disintegrates into apparently hatred and discord. Plus it's never quite clear why Vivienne never quite gets her own creative life off the ground, but there we go.
Seymour-Jones is also mildly obsessed with reading Eliot's poetry with a psychoanalytic tinge, and trying to mine out a seam of homosexuality which seems to be rather odd in comparision with the sexual freedom of the Bloomsbury set, with whom Eliot and Vivienne were involved. It's a bit concerning, to be honest. The book has certainly done a good job of uncovering some new threads and bits of information, and certainly gives the impression of Vivienne as a woman who was overmedicated due to the state of medical knowledge at the time, and whose 'insanity' was probably manipulated by her husband and brother to some extent to get her committed. But I'm not quite sure I'd go as far as Seymour-Jones obviously wants to go. Certainly the myth Eliot built up of Vivienne's frailty and his strength had already been exploded by my reading of his letters, but there are flaws with this book. See the New Yorker's review for some more thorough criticism.
Honestly, I do ask myself why on earth these people get married in the first place when it's quite clear that they have absolutely nothing in common and no firm basis upon which to build a common life.
