Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
- Book Review,
by Gertrude Stein
From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Kirsten Backstrom
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is actually the autobiography of Gertrude Stein. With complete self-assurance and audacity, speaking through the unassuming persona of her companion Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein indulged herself delightfully in this ode to Gertrude Stein and her literary/artistic circle. Perhaps she was quoting Alice's actual words when she wrote "I may say that only three times in my life have I met a genius and each time a bell within me rang and I was not mistaken." One of the geniuses referred to is, of course, Gertrude Stein herself. Fortunately, her conceit is leavened with irony and word-play, and the gossip is elevated to the level of myth by the stature of its subjects. Gertrude Stein wrote, and apparently lived, with self-conscious sensitivity to her role among a generation of writers and artists in Paris who were engaged in becoming legends. Although her characters were "giants" of art and literature whose contributions she considered with a discerning eye, her anecdotes of their behavior could be small-talk taken to the point of farce. The Autobiography offers glimpses of the dazzling and often baffling experimental style for which the author is famous, but the guileless, conversational tone of this book makes it one of her most easily accessible works. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14.
Review
"Largely to amuse herself, [ Gertrude Stein ] wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas' conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Stein's conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something of her own beautiful conversation. So that, aside from making a real present of her past, she created a figure of herself, established an identity a twin, a Doppelganger.... The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded .... "
-- Donald Sutherland
"... The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society."
-- Louis Bromfield
"... One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written."
-- William Troy
Review
"Largely to amuse herself, [ Gertrude Stein ] wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas' conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Stein's conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something of her own beautiful conversation. So that, aside from making a real present of her past, she created a figure of herself, established an identity a twin, a Doppelganger.... The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded .... "
-- Donald Sutherland
"... The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society."
-- Louis Bromfield
"... One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written."
-- William Troy
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