I'm with pretty much everyone else that has already posted in that I feel pretty clueless as to what on Earth this woman is talking about. I think I get it, but Stein jumps back and forth so much that she's hard to follow. What makes it most difficult is the timeline she uses to describe her various stays in these random places. Rather than providing succinct dates, she uses seasons. For example, on page 164, at the end of the first full paragraph, she says that "Instead of only spending the summer [in Palma] we stayed until the following spring." Thanks, Gertrude.
This brings up a point that I think Ty made it class at one point in regard to the fact that we never find out where Stein got her money from. These two women are making trips all over the place, and even though they seem to be bumming off whoever will let them stay at their house, that still has to be pretty expensive. Also, I've noticed several instances where Stein says that these various hosts requested that they stay longer. I don't know about you all, but that sounds like a crock to me! This lady reminds me of that friend that we all have who talks for the sake of hearing him or herself talk, you know, the one who would totally ask: "Hey, do you mind if I crash on your couch for a couple extra days?"
I don't know, but the timeline, and the references made to her money, are very hard to follow, especially the reference in the second paragraph of page 162 that mentions a time (in the future, I think) when "Gertrude Stein was not able to help any more ... ." Could this be foreshadowing? Is the picture on the front of this book a portrait from the panhandling days that followed her fledgling writing career? In a way, I hope so. That way we can all point our fingers and laugh at her for providing us with this tomfoolery.
In all seriousness, though, there are instances where she's funny and even enjoyable. Unfortunately, for me, those instances are typically about two sentences long, then she rambles for 14 pages about ateliers and some place or something called Marne.
Which leads me to my questions:
a.) What/where is Marne?
b.) The scene where Stein calls Toklas (I'm assuming it was her, anyway) downstairs during that weird and noisy night scene -- what was that all about?
c.) It seems like she keeps talking about how places are empty and how they'll be different later. Is that because the war is there, or because everyone is gone to fight in it?
OK, this is long. I'll save my 459 other questions for tomorrow!
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Brandon,
ReplyDeleteThe Battle of the Marne was one of the first World War I battles fought in France during September 1914. It was pretty intense for the French and their allies versus the Germans, but the allies did prevail. It all happened pretty quickly, considering that the French didn't start mobilizing until August 1st and the UK entered the war as an allied force on August 3rd.
Michael
Wow Brandon you really do not like Stein do you. I am not going to answer your questions seeing as Michael already did so. In your post and in your class today I notice something you said which got me thinking. You thought that Gertrude Stein made a lot of this up and I thought to myself, it could possible be true. The incident that you brought out in this blog made me second guess. Like the example with Stein and the police officer and the way she spoke to him. During a time of war, I feel like all citizens, including those well known, should have some respect for authority during an intense situation. So I wonder what she wrote is what she wanted to say but actually didn't because of the status. Maybe the certain situation and out comes that she writes about are true but the way in which she goes about them were different than what she actually wrote. This is just my insight!
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