Lectures in America [Paperback]

Gertrude Stein (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Pr (July 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807063533
• ISBN-13: 978-0807063538
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,328,076 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Sentences and paragraphs. Sentences are not emotional but paragraphs are.", November 12, 2009

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frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Lectures in America (Paperback)

This book is an old friend. As a student, I wrote my thesis on Stein, and spent many hours examining these texts for insight into her writing. Lectures in America is among the most lucid of her prose work; perhaps I should say it is among the most easily accessible of her books in general.

I never owned the book, however, which meant I was delighted when I found this Virago Press edition. Prefaced by Wendy Steiner, it was very fine to have a chance to revisit the work. I remembered it very well indeed. Familiarity meant instead of struggling with her unique style, I was able to dive right in to the sections which I had neglected in college. For instance, I spent a lot more time with her section on "Pictures" than I had in the past.

Lectures in America is a body of essays written for her lecture tour of the states following the unexpected success in 1933 of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. The tour attracted large and enthusiastic audiences, and Random House brought this book out, hoping to ride the wave. Alas, the Lectures did not sell well, and slipped into being the property of academics and the odd Stein fan in the wild.

The book consists of the following sections:

* What Is English Literature

* Pictures

* Plays

* The Gradual Making of the Making of Americans

* Portraits and Repetition

* Poetry and Grammar