Fernhurst, Q.E.D. and Other Early Writings

by Gertrude Stein

"A superb initiation into the mysteries of Miss Stein." ― Christian Science Monitor Gertrude Stein began the creative work that was to earn her the reputation as one of the most original writers of this century with the three pieces in this volume. Fernhurst , a fictional episode based on a Bryn Mawr scandal of the early 1900s, explores the labyrinth of love between man and woman and between woman and woman; Q.E.D. fictionalizes an early Stein romance (doomed finally by a rival); and the third selection is an early draft of The Making of Americans , which records Stein's struggle toward maturity as woman and artist. Essential works of a significant twentieth-century literary voice.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Queer, Literary Fiction, Female Authors, LGBT

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

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

[Gretchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book actually destroyed me would not recommend unless ur willing to undergo severe emotional trauma

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

"As long as one is firmly grasping the nettles there is no sting. The bitter pain begins when the hold begins to relax. At the actual moment of a calamity the undercurrents of pain, repentance and vain regret are buried deep under the ruins of the falling buildings and it is only when the whole mass begins to settle that they begin to well up here and there and at last rush out in an overwhelming flood of bitter pain,"



Q.E.D. would have been such a brave book if it had come out in 1903, when it was written, but of course it wasn't. As it is, there's a few glimpses Stein has of people interacting with their emotions and with the world that are powerful. Most of it, however, is written within the confines of this pre-WWI American upper class social milieu that is impossible to care about. Have you ever tried to read 'This Side of Paradise?' Fitzgerald wrote a book about someone coming back from World War and starting school again... I was trying to read it as I returned from Afghanistan and I remember finding it impenetrable. Everyone in these stories talks like everyone they know is everyone they're ever going to meet in their entire life, they assume everyone is watching everything they're doing, and they assume these huge consequences if things 'get out,'



So no one reads much Stein, or Fitzgerald, I think. Except for everyone's memories reading Gatsby in middle school, or whatever. I suppose there's a social media connection to all of this... everyone's sharing more over the internet. The difference, I think, is that we have this illusion of control over what we post here as opposed to people observing us.



Anyways, will likely skip 'Three Lives' for now, and move on to some of Stein's shorter works. Seriously, large parts of Q.E.D. were like that interminable phone conversation with your girlfriend where she's just talking and talking and talking, like, not even coming up for air. OMG. What can she possibly be getting out of talking to herself into a telephone? Remember that line about the receivers of landline telephones having seven holes, but the earpiece only three, because there's an inherent expected information asymmetry in a phone call, in that you expect them to be riveted to your every word while you, yourself, are free to sort of blow the other person off and do other stuff while you are talked to on the phone, and this being one of several reasons why video calling has never really caught on.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of Gertrude Stein in May I don’t know if Gertrude Stein would like that as she did prefer the warm summer months the temperate climate any way there is no way to tell or ask her so that is that.

Stein reaches greatness, but not consistently.
She is a pioneer and she is discovering new lands.

Fernhurst - brilliant - eve mn with the falsest of false starts (is she really saying men and women must do different things? That the sexed should not be treated the same? Or is this her moral of the take?)
almost a proto Stoner;
After two years of marriage disillusionment as the source of the later tragedy. How in their courtship he keeps on saying “this is the new world” he was in love with his own ideal, in his wife

Redfearn and Janet Bruce bring in love and never being together; the Dean managing Janet Bruce back away, even though she remained prone to outbursts asking of him; “he never ceased to struggle and never ceased to fail”
How Redfearn and Janet Bruce come to live in two different ways - her ardor, his chivalry and intellect
“She is absent minded but her heart is improperly present”

The description of Janet Bruce p feels like me!!
She is so thoroughly modern in her thinking, in her style.
30 the description of adolescence lasting until 29 and the freedom of being able to change careers constantly could be said by any millennial (this was a time of millennium/ maybe the turn of the century creates this sense of opportunity?


QED - the proof of the argument is shown; how GS analyses and thinks her feelings of love into proof
“Do you ever stop thinking and just feel? No? Then I will leave you with your thoughts”

following the kiss, Adele reads Dante’s vita nuova and “finally I begin to understand him”

Adele and Helen spending time together in New York - “surely one has to hit you awfully hard to shake your realler things to the surface”


There in the couch if their friends, “for the first time in Adele’s experience something happened in which she had no definite consciousness of beginning. She found herself in a passionate embrace”

The restraint is palpable - almost English - compare to James Baldwin’s visceral physicality fifty years after

The shadow of a long struggle inevitable as their different natures lay drearily upon them

It ends in deadlock. It moves to biography, a chronicle, and thereby loses pace; it is not as driving as Fernhurst for example.


The making of Americans had moments but not as compelling as the other two stories. A tale of two sisters where you are drawn to their disappointments in the end but I lost everything in the focus on America, family and the middle classes.

“Julia Dehning rushed at her sorrow, passionately, fervently heroicallyz Barbara Denning sank down into hers, quietly, helplessly unaspiringly

[Mattea Gernentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

"There is no question of forgiveness. Pain doesn't count. Oh it's unpleasant enough and Heaven knows I hate and dread it but it isn't a thing to be remembered. It is only the loss of faith, the loss of joy that count" (Q.E.D., 128).

3.5 stars. Stein's juvenilia suggests the star she would become and the themes that would haunt her.

I enjoyed the first story, "Fernhurst"—though it did feel like an uncanny retelling of a past relationship: 29-year-old academic already entangled with a woman admires a different independent woman and messes with her life. A cathartic read, maybe? Also, is it mere coincidence that, out of billions of people, I ran into this ex at the airport with this book in my backpack? Fate is strange.

Rather than focusing on the expectations and interference of society, the second tale—"Q.E.D."—felt frustrating to read because its characters were constantly getting in their own (and each other's) way, and the central conflict felt belabored and stifling. Girlies, you're in Rome; stop quibbling! Interestingly, I think Stein was simply too close to the source material to deliver it with true clarity as the dynamics were autobiographical and she was very wounded. Also, hot take: I believe it is possible George Lucas stole Leia and Han Solo's "I love you." / "I know." exchange from "Q.E.D."

The final entry, "The Making of Americans," felt extremely unfinished (and it was), but I adore it when Stein writes about the US vs. Europe because she never misses. I am just nodding all the time.

Still love Gertrude! I passed her old apartment by chance while in Paris earlier this month. 🌈

[Edward Amato · Rating 3 out of 5]

I profess to being ignorant to all of Gertrude Stein's other works so my take on this particular has little merit. Despite finding the wording archaic, I found the stories to be engaging; particularly Q.E.D.
This fictitious tale reinvents Stein's first romantic relationship that ended in heartbreaking failure. I read half of the story, fell asleep, and then early in the morning finished the reading before nodding back off to sleep. This tale resonates with me because it reminded me of my first loving relationship and the turmoil involved. My father told me when I was young that your first love is your most profound and effects you like no other. For me this was correct and I felt as though I were on a bi-polar hell ride: the highs were so intense; the lows in the pits of despair. When the relationship ended, poorly, I struggled to find solace of being alone. Stein's novice relationship was agony and perhaps was the "fire" that honed her feelings for future relationships as well as her relationship with herself.
Interesting read that intrigues me to read more of her work.

[Ryan Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three books and some commentary, all early works. QED is autobiographical and heartbreaking, but follows the time in Stein's life that made her the author she became. She doesn't use commas and that was fun.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very human stories and a helpful appendix

[LoyalToTheSoils · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories and themes were interesting generally but the writing fell really flat for me and I found it hard to enjoy.

[Estelle]

Nice. I will reread in in the future.