The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
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"Largely to amuse herself, [ Gertrude Stein ] wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas' conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Stein's conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something of her own beautiful conversation. So that, aside from making a real present of her past, she created a figure of herself, established an identity a twin, a Doppelganger.... The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded ...."
-- Donald Sutherland
..." The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society."
-- Louis Bromfield
..." One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written."
-- William Troy
-- Donald Sutherland
..." The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society."
-- Louis Bromfield
..." One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written."
-- William Troy
"From the Trade Paperback edition.
Product Description
For Gertrude Stein and her companion Alice B. Toklas, life in Paris was based upon the rue de Fleurus and the Saturday evenings and ‘it was like a kaleidoscope slowly turning’. Picasso was there with ‘his high whinnying spanish giggle’, as were Cezanne and Matisse, Hemingway and Fitzgerald. As Toklas put it – ‘The geniuses came and talked to Gertrude Stein and the wives sat with me’. A light-hearted entertainment, this is in fact Gertrude Stein’s own autobiography and a roll-call of all the extraordinary painters and writers she met between 1903 and 1932. Audacious, sardonic and characteristically self-confident, this is a definitive account by the American in Paris.
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First Sentence
I was born in San Francisco, California. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I was born in San Francisco, California. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An enjoyable read: the world of Stein and Toklas seemed to revolve round anyone who was anyone in the early 20th century art world, and the anecdotes about famous artists will doubtless appeal.
Ultimately, though, I found this book unsatisfying: we don't really get to know much about either Alice, Gertrude, their relationship or their friends. The name dropping - "Picasso called by for tea" "Man Ray came to photograph Gertrude Stein" etc - gets rather tedious, as does Toklas's hero worship of Stein (i.e. Stein's own consideration of herself as a genius).
I much preferred the later "Alice B. Toklas Cookbook", writted by Toklas herself after Stein's death: although containing recipes (most famously "Hascish Fudge") it is mainly an account of their life together in occupied France.
Ultimately, though, I found this book unsatisfying: we don't really get to know much about either Alice, Gertrude, their relationship or their friends. The name dropping - "Picasso called by for tea" "Man Ray came to photograph Gertrude Stein" etc - gets rather tedious, as does Toklas's hero worship of Stein (i.e. Stein's own consideration of herself as a genius).
I much preferred the later "Alice B. Toklas Cookbook", writted by Toklas herself after Stein's death: although containing recipes (most famously "Hascish Fudge") it is mainly an account of their life together in occupied France.
Format:Paperback
Whilst I enjoyed parts of this book I felt it could have done with some input of an editor - 'more of that later' was an overused phrase throughout. It did sometimes read like a checklist of the famous and notable without any in depth descriptions. But it was interesting to hear about who was in Paris at the time and who met who etc
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
saw Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris", and very much liked it...and Kathy Bates was excellent as Gertrud Stein!Couldn't find my over 30 years old copy, so ordered a new one, with new cover!simple as that with Amazon, so THANK YOU..
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