Description

In this collection, readers will rediscover Gertrude Stein as the bearer of a joyfully radical literary vision. A bold experimenter, her writing sparks with vitality, relishing in rhythm, repetition, sound and colour in its central vision: to prise apart language and association and find thrilling new ways to express the true essence of her subject with charming joie de vivre

Stein considered her shorter writings to be the truest expressions of her enrapturing style. Her fascination with people and personalities can be located in expressive portraits of close friends such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Juan Gris, whilst her decades-long relationship with Alice B. Toklas is immortalised with shimmering eroticism. There are also playful meditations on her unique writing process, conveying her serious delight in meddling with conventions of grammar and composition.

Publisher Review

'A Stein-shaped sentence is a very bespoke thing-you need an espresso martini to recover' - Deborah Levy 'We are convinced by the truth of her observations, and are still astonished by the beautiful bluntness with which they're stated' - New Yorker 'Stein created the first indubitably modern literary style' - New Yorker