false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166668895m/14958.jpg 14958 8 "Twentieth-century literature is Gertrude Stein." Or at least so felt Gertrude Stein, in a sentiment that she shared with few others, except of course Alice B. Toklas. Gertrude and Alice met in 1907 in Paris, and famously shared their lives from that day forth, souls in perfect complement; two magnificently eccentric and idiosyncratic women who became a legendary entity, and who were photographed by Man Ray and Cecil Beaton, painted and fêted by Picasso, and visited by writers such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Eliot. Theirs is a fascinating story, and they have found a wonderful and oddly sympathetic chronicler in Diana Souhami, whose book <I>The Trials of Radclyffe Hall</I> met with critical acclaim, and who proves the perfect counterfoil to the "Steins." Her own touch of genius is barely to consider Gertrude's grand oeuvre, sparing the rod to an already spoiled child and freeing her readership from the unpalatable fare that she generally served up (by contrast, Alice was a dedicated and talented cook).<p> Literary success came late to Stein--she was 57 when <I>The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas</I> was published--but, like Edith Sitwell, she became, to use a Leavis phrase, more a figure in the history of publicity; the curious thing is that one senses that behind the rhetoric she knew it. After Stein's death in 1946, Toklas became the classic devoted author's widow, finally dying just short of her 90th birthday. She was buried with Gertrude in Père Lachaise cemetery, although her inscription is on the back of the tombstone, as she was ever behind her lover. Souhami's two lives, refreshingly stripped of biographical dead wood, positively crackle with high-powered gossip and bristle with bitchy anecdotes, although her laconic touch is never asleep to the touching cadences, as well as the wonderful absurdities. As a writer, a "literary cubist" who once tried to give up nouns, Stein is more to be admired than respected. As a life force, mover, and shaker, and as partner to Alice, she was massively successful. Their life together--a third life, so to speak--was their greatest creation, and it's done justice by the talented Souhami's glorious account. Gertrude and Alice would have hated it. <I>--David Vincent, Amazon.co.uk</I> 1568990 1991 Gertrude and Alice (Phoenix Press) total:33|5:11|4:14|3:6|2:1|1:1| 33 132 56 4 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1991 Thu Mar 13 13:26:23 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 13:35:58 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 true false Wed Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 23 18:32:14 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 18:35:10 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Dec 15 15:58:21 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 15:59:44 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Fri Jun 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed May 28 20:53:28 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 07:36:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Nov 23 12:45:47 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 23 12:45:54 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 03 14:34:57 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 14:34:57 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Nov 01 01:06:26 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 01 01:06:26 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 25 12:34:06 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 12:34:06 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 02 07:39:43 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 07:39:43 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 29 20:47:35 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 20:47:35 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jul 20 17:52:47 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 17:52:47 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 -0800 1994 Fri Jul 10 19:04:17 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 11 07:20:22 -0700 2009 1 4 0 false false Sun Jun 21 03:27:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 21:25:38 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 03:27:00 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sat Jun 06 17:05:39 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 17:05:44 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed May 20 13:02:34 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 13:02:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun May 10 13:23:53 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 13:23:53 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat May 02 13:12:39 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 13:12:39 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Apr 07 14:24:25 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 14:24:25 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Mar 24 20:43:59 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 20:43:59 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Mar 24 11:49:54 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 24 11:49:54 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=14958