The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Carl Van Vechten, 1913-1946

by Gertrude Stein, Carl van Vechten

Both in her lifetime and since, Gertrude Stein's persona received far more attention than her writings. The result was a distorted view of both her person and her work. This monumental two-volume set of her correspondenc with Carl Van Vechten, the critic novelist, and photographer, offers new insight into Stein's life, her art, and the intellectual and artistic milieu of Paris. These letters also follow Van Vechten's various particularly his championship of the Harlem Renaissance. The existing biographies of Stein, and even her own autobiographical writings, omit a great deal. While fleshed out with famous names and anecdotes, they lack the ordinary detail of what Stein called "daily everyday living": the immediate concerns, objects, people, and places that were grist for her writing. These letters provide the detail of daily life and recover aspects of Stein's and Van Vechten's private selves as writers that are often lost in the rush to glamorize them. What is especially satisfying about this edition is its completeness. By providing both sides of this extraordinary correspondence--the longest continuous correspondence of Stein's life--our knowledge of STein's and Van Vechten's lives, their art, and their times is significantly enhanced. The letters have been transcribed to retain the characteristics of each writer's style. Readers of this volume will benefit greatly from Edward Burns' lively and exhaustive annotations, which include scrupulous cross-referencing to source materials.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Gertrude Stein was an American writer who spent most of her life in France, and who became a catalyst in the development of modern art and literature. Her life was marked by two primary relationships, the first with her brother Leo Stein, from 1874-1914, and the second with Alice B. Toklas, from 1907 until Stein's death in 1946. Stein shared her salon at 27 rue de Fleurus, Paris, first with Leo and then with Alice. Throughout her lifetime, Stein cultivated significant tertiary relationships with well-known members of the avant garde artistic and literary world of her time.

Reviews

[MeneerJanssen · Rating 5 out of 5]

De allerleukste brieven collectie die ik ooit gelezen heb!