The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (Paperback)

by Gertrude Stein (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Largely to amuse herself, [ Gertrude Stein ] wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas' conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Stein's conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something of her own beautiful conversation. So that, aside from making a real present of her past, she created a figure of herself, established an identity a twin, a Doppelganger.... The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded .... "

-- Donald Sutherland

"... The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society."

-- Louis Bromfield

"... One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written."

-- William Troy -- Review

Autobiography by Gertrude Stein, written as if it were the autobiography of her lifelong companion, Alice B. Toklas. Published in 1933, the work ostensibly contains Toklas' first-person account not of her own life, but of Stein's, written from Toklas's viewpoint and replete with Toklas' sensibilities, observations, and mannerisms. The Autobiography was originally published in an abridged version in The Atlantic Monthly magazine. The book describes the life that Toklas and Stein lead in Paris, including their at-homes with such artists, literary lions, and intellectuals as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Henri Matisse, and Georges Braque. While Stein exchanges ideas with men of genius, Toklas sits with their wives. Its droll premise, masterful execution, and witty insights concerning the writers and artists then living in France make clear Stein's ability to write for a general public. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Review
"Largely to amuse herself, [ Gertrude Stein ] wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in 1932...using as a sounding board her companion Miss Toklas, who had been with her for twenty-five years. It has been said that the writing takes on very much Miss Toklas' conversational style, and while this is true the style is still a variant of Miss Stein's conversation style. ...She usually insisted that writing is an entirely different thing from talking, and it is part of the miracle of this little scheme of objectification that she could by way of imitating Miss Toklas put in writing something of her own beautiful conversation. So that, aside from making a real present of her past, she created a figure of herself, established an identity a twin, a Doppelganger.... The book is full of the most lucid and shapely anecdotes, told in a purer and more closely fitting prose... than even Gide or Hemingway have ever commanded .... "

-- Donald Sutherland

"... The record of nearly thirty years of life in a fantastically changing Paris and else where -- a life passed in the most stimulating and important society."

-- Louis Bromfield

"... One of the richest, wittiest, and most irreverent [biographies] ever written."

-- William Troy

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (March 17, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067972463X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679724636
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,063 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps The Single Most Elaborate Joke In The History of Literature, December 29, 2005

By	Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) is a singularly problematic writer whose work is very difficult to describe. In 1902 Stein moved to France and spent most of her adult life in that country; upon arriving she was quickly caught up in the Paris arts scene and soon became one of the earliest champions of such artists as Picasso and Matisse. Under their influence, Stein sought to translate the various arts movements and styles that swirled around her into literary forms.

The result was an incredibly idiosyncratic body of work in which Stein tended to use language for the sake of language. Often described as stream of conciousness, Stein's work tends to divide readers and critics. Some greatly admire Stein; an equal number consider her a non-talent with a gift for self-promotion. Whatever the case, her writings proved unexpectedly influential in "high art" circles.

Stein, a lesbian, met Alice B. Toklas about 1907, and the two remained a couple until Stein's death. Those who knew Toklas through Stein's numerous social events describe her as a small, ordinary woman with a tendency to fade into the background; in a world made up of artists and their wives, Stein played the role of artist and Toklas played wife.

Published in 1933, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS is often described as Stein's "most widely accessible" work. That is true only in the sense that Stein generally writes in a linear style and without the obvious word-games to which she was prone; the book is not typical of her work in either respect. On the other hand, it is extremely typical of Stein in terms of concept. The book is essentially a view of Stein's world as it might have been described by the uncritical Toklas, presented in her voice and related in terms of what Toklas herself might have found most interesting.

Stein herself seems to have regarded AUTOBIOGRAPHY as an elaborate literary prank written to amuse herself and those who moved through in circle, and the nature of that prank should be obvious from the title and authorship. Clearly, one person cannot write the autobiography of another, and while it might be reasonable to describe the book as the autobiography of Gertrude Stein the fact that it is filtered through Toklas' personality does not quite allow for that either.

Whatever the case, AUTOBIOGRAPHY is a deliberately superficial work. Throughout the book Toklas describes Gertrude Stein as a great genius--but it is Stein, not Toklas, who writes, and so we really learn nothing on this point. The same is true of the many other names that swirled through Stein's life: Stein could have told a great deal and frequently hints as much--but the Toklas mask knows nothing about artists and art is consequently a great deal more interested in the hats worn to the party than in the people who wore them.

If all of this sounds complicated, it is, and it begs all sorts of questions about what is fact, what is fiction, how much is accurately Toklas, and--most particularly--the fundamental nature of Stein's body of work as a whole. Was she really the genius that she proclaimed herself to be? Or was her proclamation a deliberate joke? Should her works be regarded as innovative masterpieces or was she a literary prankster? If the latter, does the marked succcess of these pranks actually grant her some claim to genius after all?

Beats me, and I'm hardly alone in that response. Critics have argued about all this and more for decades and will likely continue to do so for decades more. I will say this: while I rather like Stein in limited doses, I do not recommend her to the casual reader. Taken cold, her work is more likely to frustrate and annoy than fascinate and inspire. If you are determined to read Stein, you really should read a fair amount about her first--and in the case of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS you would do well to have a solid working knowledge of early 20th Century art as well.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer
In Memory of James and Shamsi Hyre
Killed 29 August 2005 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi
By Hurricane Katrina

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gertrude Shines, September 6, 2000

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

"The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" made Gertrude Stein a household name in America in the 1930s, and for good reason. This is Stein at her most accessible and I must highly suggest it for any first-time readers of this literary genius. The book has a light, breezy tone, interesting subject matter (Picasso & various renowned artists pop up throughout), and Stein's trademark intellectual brilliance. The device of using Toklas as an approach to Stein's life is certainly interesting and is responsible for some of the most entertaining passages. And this book is certainly entertaining, thanks to Stein's supreme wit and her clever descriptions of the people she interacts with and situations she finds herself in. I highly recommend this book, especially for those who haven't read Stein before. Her vivacity, wit, intelligence and skill are on display here in an accessible, classic work.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read, November 10, 1998

By A Customer

This is the book that brought Stein into mainstream society, and not without reason. Considerably more accessible than her other work, she relays the story of her life through the personna of Alice B. Toklas, her life-long companion. Primarily consisting of remarks about the various movers of the Paris art and literary scene that took place at the turn of the century, Stein, above all, isn't afraid to say just what she thinks. However, her wry anecdotes and asides are not written without the greatest of attention to style, and the reader finds each sentence to be representative of the orignality in grammatical structure that made her famous.