This passage says a lot about Stein, and to me, sets forth a prevailing impression--a perpetual outsider, one who belongs nowhere but is a transplant wherever she is, not simply among places but among people as well. She is not simply an American in a foreign land, be it Paris or Spain or London. She is an American among Frenchmen, among Spaniards, among all manner of Europeans. Furthermore, her work is well outside the realm of popular literature. What's more, her taste in art, while ultimately receiving popular validation, is originally quite avant-garde and out of the ordinary. All of which develop an impression of Gertrude Stein as an outsider in many regards, an impression with which I believe she would not disagree.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Stein's Identity
This really is only tangentially related to the previous post, but the mention of Stein's patriotism reminded me of another aspect of the novel that I found to be particularly illuminating in view of Stein's identity. On page 69, when discussing the circumstances of her birth, she writes, "and now [Allegheny, Pennsylvania, the place of her birth] no longer exists being all of it in Pittsburgh." Stein goes on to say that she "used to delight in being born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania" because of "the pleasure of seeing the various french officials try to write, Allegheny, Pennsylvania."
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2 comments:
I found Ross's comment interesting, especially with Stein's preoccupation with the internal versus the external. My immediate reaction was complete agreement with Ross's idea; however I'm learning that with Stein, it tends to be the opposite of what I think that is true. Although I'm not sure how you could fit in the idea about her hometown, I think you could argue that Stein is actually an insider and others are on the outside. She was one of the first to recognize the greatness in many artists; the others followed after her to join the movement. It is clear throughout the book that Stein is a strong leader. When she was refused a passport at the embassy, she stood her ground and demanded the same service as someone else with similar background (161). I believe the insider/outsider idea can be linked with the normal/abnormal idea in that while Stein's actions appear abnormal and make her seem like an outsider, they are actually quite normal and it is others who are the outsiders.
Ross has brought forth a valid point. I have become very confused by Gertrude Stein's writing and the tactics she uses to bewilder/capture the reader. I would agree in the fact that Gertrude Stein may see herself as an outsider, but she claims to be interested in normality. At the same time, the novel itself is an abnormality in our society (how many autobiography's of this kind are there?). I have come to the conclusion that perhaps Gertrude Stein's perception on what normal actually means plays a part in why she assumes that the abnormal is boring and predictable. I believe that Gertrude Stein sees normal as doing whatever one believes to be right (or whatever one desires). Abnormality can be characterized as the rules/laws that everyone else places one's 'normal'beliefs/actions. In the eyes of Gertrude Stein, one is normal when they don't let someone else 'ruin their fun'.
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