Hi everyone. I'm not much of a blogger so I apologize in advance if this post
is not where it should be. Also, I'm not sure if there is some sort of format
that I should follow, so for lack of any better ideas, I guess I will just dive
in.
While reading The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, I noticed that Stein refers several times to the importance of sentences in her work. She writes that “sentences not only words but sentences and always sentences have been Gertrude Stein’s life long passion” (p. 41). The repetition of this idea leads me to believe that it is important, and I was wondering if anyone could think of the significance in valuing sentences over words.
To share my own opinion, I think that focusing on sentences emphasizes the importance in looking at Gertrude Stein’s work as a whole. If one is able to do this, then one can appreciate her ingenuity in using a style that proves itself to be crafty and illusive. Stein twists words around and neglects punctuation, which distorts the clarity of what she is saying. Yet, in spite of all its distortions, the meanings of the sentences are not lost. For instance, you may not be able to comprehend a sentence at first glance; however, if you take a moment and look back at the sentence as a whole, you are able to understand the meaning on a completely different level. Thus, that which at first was unclear is now made clear.
Although this game Stein seems to be playing can get frustrating after a while, I think it is also incredibly clever. Her style of writing and her use of those “long sentences which were to change the literary ideas of a great many people” really do make you challenge yourself to give everything a second glance, to read slower, and to open your mind (p. 57). I think Stein wants you to let go of convention and stop fretting over the minute aspects of literary work; otherwise, you may miss seeing the significance in a much larger issue.
So that is just what I am thinking. Does anyone else have any other opinions?
3 comments:
Don't worry I've never used a blog in my life, so I hope we get credit for what we write even though it probably does not belong here. haha. I agree with you completely.That is the fundamental basis of her "long sentences," which are also very clever at that. People can focus on the correct structure of a sentence, which may lead to the reader's neglect, or just over-looking of the context. Gertrude Stein's writing style does force you to slow down and even re-read various sentences. From my own experience, sentences I have read that seemed unimportant and just written strangely-after I revisited said sentence-I found it to be of importance and crucial to her insights, thoughts, and even beliefs of which this book seems to be centered around.
Gertrude Stein's sentence structure, or lack thereof bother me a lot, but I like your insight on reading the sentences as a whole instead of breaking them down. I re-read some pages that interested me and I may have gotten a better feeling for what she was saying by ignoring the way she was saying it.
Virginia, I agree with your interpretation of the idea of sentences as the whole - I think you're spot on. To jump off of that, it's interesting how while she is all about the sentences over words, she still consistently uses repeating words as a strong structure tool as well. One never sees repeating sentences or phrases, but only repeating words within a sentence. This could be tied back to your idea about the whole. The repeating words change meanings throughout the sentence (like Erica talked about in class) so it is the entirity of the sentence, as opposed to just a fragment of it, that is the true key to Stein's message.
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