Category Archives: Gertrude Stein

Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 23

Here she comes again! Gertie is back in print. Amazon (at least) is freshly restocked with copies (at the original price, $ 15.95!) and you can have a look inside the book. Well, you got a good look already from … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 22

“It was pleasant being a lion…” This was how I read this picture, taken in 1935 on Stein’s lecture tour through America: “She is a celebrity by then, a ‘lion,’ and shows the same unbending refusal to please anyone but … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 21

“I don’t care to say whether I’m greater than Shakespeare, and he’s dead and can’t say whether he’s greater than I am. Time will tell.” (Lecture at Wesleyan University, 1935) What’s all the fuss about? When Stein went on her … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 20

To eat or not to eat — to read or not to read? Why bother reading Gertrude Stein? It’s a good question. You can make it hard on yourself (as I often did at first) by starting on the wrong … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 19

“Pigeons on the grass alas” Collecting photos of Gertrude Stein was an intense, year-long treasure hunt. It led to Paris libraries and private collections, to University Archives and Rare Books Libraries, press agencies and personal friends of Gertrude and Alice … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 18

“If not why not.” I talked about the intriguing androgynous qualities of Gertrude and her “bearded Lady” before. In this photo Gert, Alice and a friend amuse themselves at a country fair near their country house (captured by Sam Steward). … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 17

If you still think that Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude’s “maid”, just “Wifey” like in any old heterosexual marriage pattern, think again. Many of Stein’s friends and enemies (some of them changed back and forth as the years went on) … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 16

After all the controversies we can settle back into what is “peaceful and exciting”: Gertrude’s passion for Alice and Alice’s for Gertrude. I have quoted Gertrude’s love notes to Alice. Among the few remaining love notes from Alice to Gertrude, … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 15

A rose is a rose by any other name… When I researched Stein photographs and texts for my photobiography I happened upon the man who created this amazing rose tattoo — an homage to Gertrude Stein. He turned out to … Continue reading

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Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 14

The question was: How do you read Gertrude Stein’s writing? And how do you read her body language? There seems to be a lot of confusion. Do you think the woman with the head of an emperor, the body of … Continue reading

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