The Making of Americans (American Literature Series) [Paperback]

Gertrude Stein (Author), Steven Meyer (Introduction), William H. Gass (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: American Literature Series | Publication Date: December 1, 1995

"Essential for all literature collections . . . Several of Stein's titles returned to print in 1995, but none more important than The Making of Americans."—Library Journal

In The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein sets out to tell "a history of a family's progress," radically reworking the traditional family saga novel to encompass her vision of personality and psychological relationships. As the history progresses over three generations, Stein also meditates on her own writing, on the making of The Making of Americans, and on America.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

From the "I can't believe this is out of print" file comes Stein's monster of a novel, which was initially serialized by Hemingway and Ford Madox Ford in the Transatlantic Review. Although Stein does not follow convention, the plot portrays three generations of an American family. An abridged edition was released in 1934, but this is a facsimile of the original text published in Paris in 1925 by Robert McAlmon's Contact Editions. Essential for all literature collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Her major work deserves to be in print, and so it is shocking to realize that this is the first commonly available paperback of her magnum opus, one of those mammoth, monstrous books that's worth carrying around for weeks . . . One dips into these repetitive pages in the hope, usually justified, of learning something about the musical and syntactic possibilities of English prose. Many people find Bach tediousall those variations and fuguesbut in her way Stein is putting her sentences through the same kind of ingenious paces." -- Washington Post Book World 1-21-96

"It is a shame that Stein's works are not better known for there are many levels to her literary and descriptive projects that continue to reach right to the heart of expressive language. The introduction and foreword to this massive novel offer some guidance to its general themes and project. More than anything Stein's work needs to be read aloud to savor the spoken tangle of work sense. Highly recommended." -- Reader's Review 1-17-96

"It must be said that The Making of Americans is oddly moving, and can yield a new pleasure to anyone who is willing to learn Miss Stein's idiom." -- Francis Fergusson, Saturday Review of Literature

"This sober, tender-hearted, very searching history of a family's progress, comprehends in its picture of life which is distinctively American, a psychology which is universal." -- Marianne Moore, Dial

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 926 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564780880
• ISBN-13: 978-1564780881
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written!, January 30, 2002

By 

Elizabeth Howard "literary crone" (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Making of Americans (American Literature Series) (Paperback)

It is a shame that so much of Gertrude Stein's work is dismissed because of its unconventionality. Though sometimes difficult to read, Stein's writing has a lyrical quality about it unparalleled by the work of other writers. The Making of Americans is probably one of her best, and well worth the effort it might take to read it. I found that after only a few pages, I was moved along by the rhythm and cadence that carries the story. A wonderful read!

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The great unsung classic of the twentieth century., November 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Making of Americans (American Literature Series) (Paperback)

What starts of as an anecdotal recounting of what I imagine is Stein's forefathers and foremothers immigrant experience launches off into a brilliant, highly intellectual examination and rhapsody of individuality and conformity among other things (like death and consciousness and the battle between the sexes). This book will literally change the way you think you think. I think it should.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strangeness for Strangers, February 28, 2011

By 

G. Charles Steiner - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Making of Americans (American Literature Series) (Paperback)

Gertrude Stein opens this mammoth work with the statement that she writes for herself and strangers. It's one thing to read about this work, whether by Stein herself or by her critics; it's quite another thing to read it for yourself. You really have to read the whole thing in order to believe anyone could or would ever write or want to write such a mammoth, monstrous yet curious work.

The hallmark of Stein's originality essentially is strangeness. This work is a quasi-historical, quasi-sociological and quasi-psychological epic whose rhythmic sentence structures have a chant-like tribal feeling, nearly hypnotizing in its relentless rolling forward.

Janet Malcolm, a wonderful journalist, cut the book in half with a knife in order to be able to manage the physical difficulties of reading this book. Not a masterpiece, this is just of one literature's strangest zoological specimens.