Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice

A literary biography of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Tolklas by New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm. This is not a chronology of their lives but rather explorations of particular questions like "How did two Jewish lesbians survive WWII in France?" and "What is the biographer/critic's role when writing about a subject?" It is, of course, very, very well written and quite interesting if you have a basic knowledge of their lives. If you don't, you should probably start with The Autobiography of Alice B. Tolklas by Stein herself. ( )

I picked this up after reading The Cookbook of Alice B. Toklas, a work I initially needed to consult but ended up reading cover to cover. It is fun reading, but it left me with so many questions. One huge question: how could two Jewish lesbians survive the entire war in occupied France? Janet Malcolm has provided the answer.

This book is mistitled. It is not really a biography, although it does touch upon some of the hidden aspects of their relationship. It reads like two lengthy New Yorker articles on Gertrude Stein topics, followed by a coda. First, their relationship with Bernard Fay who became an administrator under the Vichy regime, the nature of his service under the regime and the discovery of the documentation demonstrating his efforts on their behalf and later, their efforts on his behalf after his imprisonment. Second, the discovery, transcription and subsequent suppression of a series of notebooks Stein kept while writing The Making of Americans. The scholar who made the discovery had extensive access to Alice B. Toklas in her later years, and the dribs and drabs of information he has let loose is pored over and speculated upon by other, shut-out scholars with whom Malcolm has become friendly. Along the way, odd sidelights are cast upon Stein and Toklas: the particulars of their relationship not apparent in the extensive autobiographical writings, the nature of Stein's psychology, and the particular attention necessary for appreciation of Stein's less accessible works (which could include everything she published with the exception of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.) Finally, there is a brief section which apparently contains material not absorbed by the first two chapters, but settles finally on the execution of Stein's will and Toklas' financial difficulties during her final, sad years.

Malcolm is a terrific writer--for five minutes I thought I might read TMOA because she made it sound a reasonable and worthwhile thing to do. I now have an acute sense of how well Stein hid parts of her life behind what appears to be copious autobiography. It's not a long read, and it may capture your interest if it lies along these paths. A full-fledged biographical treatment this is not. ( )

Gertrude Stein wrote monstrously unreadable prose on the theory, in vogue circa 1905, that she could bypass her conscious mind and write directly from the subconscious. Her great love, Alice B. Toklas, was a cookbook author prone to instructions such as: "First, catch your goose."

Through careful readings of Stein's writing, Malcolm makes the case, quoting English professor Ulla Dydo, that Stein's lifting words from the lockstep of standard usage was indeed, the work of a (granted, self-described) genius. Malcolm gets into more controversial territory in exploring Stein and Toklas's stormy and complicated relationship--fraught with sadomasochistic emotional undercurrents--and their energetic sex life. But her real discovery is that Stein and Toklas--two elderly Jewish women--survived the German occupation of France because of their close friendship with the wealthy, anti-Semitic Frenchman Bernard Faÿ, a collaborator responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Freemasons. Faÿ continually intervened with the authorities on the pair's behalf. This friendship was so deep that after the war Toklas helped the imprisoned Faÿ escape

My Great Books Reading Group will read Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas -- and I vaguely remembered a review of this longish essay on Stein & Toklas... So I picked it up. SO far -- not particularly gripping. ( )