The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

"The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" is a 1933 autobiography of Gertrude Stein, written by Stein as if she were Alice B. Toklas.

ummary

Before I came to Paris

Alice B. Toklas says she was born into an affluent family in San Francisco. Later she met Gertrude Stein's mother during the San Francisco fires, and finally decided to move to Paris in 1907.

My Arrival in Paris

Alice talks about the important role of Helene, Gertrude's housemaid, in their household in Paris. She mentions the preparation of an art exhibition. She goes on to talk about Picasso and his mistress Fernande. The couple break up and Fernande moves to Montparnasse to teach French. Alice and Gertrude visit her there.

Gertrude Stein in Paris, 1903-1907

Alice tells of Gertrude and her brother Leo Stein buying paintings by Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse from Ambroise Vollard. They subsequently become friends with them. She then talks about the summer they spend in Fiesole whilst Picasso goes to Spain. Back in France, Gertrude falls out with Guillaume Apollinaire. Later, Picasso has an argument with Matisse.

Gertrude Stein before she came to Paris

Alice tells how Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, then moved to Vienna, Passy, and finally New York City and California. She then went to college at Radcliffe College, where she was taught by William James. She decided to do a Master's degree at Johns Hopkins University but dropped out because she was bored, then moved to London and was bored there too, returned to America, and eventually settled in Paris.

1907-1914

Alice tells stories about Matisse, Apollinaire, and many other Cubist artists. She recounts their holidays in Italy and Spain. Finally, they move to England on the eve of the First World War to meet with Gertrude's editor, leaving Mildred Aldrich alone in Paris...

The War

Gertrude and Alice are first in England, then go briefly to France to rescue Gertrude's writings. They then live in Spain for a while and eventually move back to France. There, they volunteer for the American Fund for the French Wounded by driving around France to help the wounded and homeless. By the end of the war, it seems Paris has changed.

After the War, 1919-1932

Alice tells of Gertrude's argument with T. S. Eliot after he finds one of her writings inappropriate. She talks about her friendship with Sherwood Anderson and Ernest Hemingway - the latter helped with the publication of "The Making of Americans". They then make friends with a coterie of Russian artists, but it is no real movement. Later, Gertrude gives a lecture at Oxford University. Alice then mentions more parties with artists. Later, they abridge "The Making of Americans" down to four hundred pages for commercial reasons, and eventually think of the idea of an autobiography.

Literary significance and criticism

Gertrude Stein admitted to writing it in six weeks, and writing it with an end to making money. [Diana Souhami, "Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas", Rivers Oram Press/Pandora List, 20 Feb 1992, page 187] However, she did not like writing it for this particular reason, and Alice didn't think it would be a success. [Diana Souhami, "Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas", Rivers Oram Press/Pandora List, 20 Feb 1992, page 189]

It was the first of her writings to be published in the "Atlantic Monthly", much to her joy. The magazine published sixty per cent of the novel, in four instalments. [Diana Souhami, "Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas", Rivers Oram Press/Pandora List, 20 Feb 1992, pages 190-191]

As to her friends, Carl Van Vechten liked it; Henry McBride thought it was too commercial; Ernest Hemingway called it a 'damned pitiful book'; Henri Matisse was offended by the descriptions of his wife; Georges Braque thought Stein had misconstrued Cubism; Leo Stein deemed it to be a farrago of lies. [Diana Souhami, "Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas", Rivers Oram Press/Pandora List, 20 Feb 1992, pages 192-194]

The commercial success that came with this book enabled her to upgrade her lifestyle. [Diana Souhami, "Gertrude and Alice: Gertrude Stein and Alice B.Toklas", Rivers Oram Press/Pandora List, 20 Feb 1992, pages 195]

According to Virgil Thomson, who put Gertrude Stein's libretti into music, the "book is in every way except actual authorship Alice Toklas's book; it reflects her mind, her language, her private view of Gertrude, also her unique narrative powers. Every story in it is told as Alice herself had always told it....Every story that ever came into the house eventually got told in Alice's way, and this was its definitive version.". [Virgil Thomson, 'A Portrait of Gertrude Stein', "An Autobiography of Virgil Thomson", pages 176-177]

References