Everybody's Autobiography [Paperback]

Gertrude Stein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2004

Everybody's Autobiography is among the very best of Gertrude's writing--[it] speaks with the true and original voice of Gertrude Stein, without apparent art or bravado.--Janet HobhouseIn 1937, Gertrude Stein wrote a sequel to The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, but this darker and more complex work was long misunderstood and neglected. An account of her experiences in the wake of having authored a bestseller, Everybody's Autobiography is as funny and engaging as The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, but it is also a searing meditation on the meaning of success and identity in America. Posing as the representative American, Stein transforms her story into history--responding to the tradition of Thoreau and Henry Adams, she writes: "I used to be fond of saying that America, which was supposed to be a land of success, was a land of failure. Most of the great men in America had a long life of early failure and a long life of later failure." Everybody's Autobiography is Stein at her most accessible and her most serious, and may yet prove to be among her most popular books.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This marks the pioneer modernist's second title to be recently reprinted ( Geography and Plays , Classic Returns, LJ 1/94), indicating perhaps a Stein renaissance. Stein knew everybody who was anybody, and in this title, she spills the dope on them all in one of the more easily readable of her many works. For public and academic collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Exact Change (January 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878972081
• ISBN-13: 978-1878972088
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, brilliant, playful, and of course, interesting, June 7, 2000

By 

Matthew Calcara "writer" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Everybody's Autobiography (Paperback)

This is a fascinating account of Stein's travels in America following the success of "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas". Stein finds many things interesting about America, and through her descriptions, so does the reader. Her descriptions of the habits, manners, lifestyle, and thoughts of Americans are very simple but profoundly accurate. Being a Gertrude Stein work, Everybody's Autobiography also features amazing prose that is often challenging but always rewarding. Surprisingly, Everybody's Autobiography is very approachable once one adjusts to Stein's style. This was the first Stein work I read and I've already begun reading The Making of Americans. I just can't recommend this book [and Stein in general] enough.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars very gertrude stein, but more readable, May 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Everybody's Autobiography (Paperback)

i usually find stein's play with words a bit frustrating. however, this is a more readable book, one of her most accessible works. insightful in its view of fame & narcissism in america.