Unlocking the truth of the mystifying relationship between Gertrude Stein, brilliant and affable, and her brooding companion, Alice B. Toklas
"How had the pair of elderly Jewish lesbians survived the Nazis?” Janet Malcolm asks at the beginning of this extraordinary work of literary biography and investigative journalism. The pair, of course, is Gertrude Stein, the modernist master “whose charm was as conspicuous as her fatness” and “thin, plain, tense, sour” Alice B. Toklas, the “worker bee” who ministered to Stein’s needs throughout their forty-year expatriate “marriage.” As Malcolm pursues the truth of the couple’s charmed life in a village in Vichy France, her subject becomes the larger question of biographical truth. “The instability of human knowledge is one of our few certainties,” she writes.
The portrait of the legendary couple that emerges from this work is unexpectedly charged. The two world wars Stein and Toklas lived through together are paralleled by the private war that went on between them. This war, as Malcolm learned, sometimes flared into bitter combat.
Two Lives is also a work of literary criticism. “Even the most hermetic of [Stein’s] writings are works of submerged autobiography,” Malcolm writes. “The key of 'I' will not unlock the door to their meaning—you need a crowbar for that—but will sometimes admit you to a kind of anteroom of suggestion.” Whether unpacking the accessible Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, in which Stein “solves the koan of autobiography,” or wrestling with The Making of Americans, a masterwork of “magisterial disorder,” Malcolm is stunningly perceptive.
Praise for the author:
“[Janet Malcolm] is among the most intellectually provocative of authors . . .able to turn epiphanies of perception into explosions of insight.”—David Lehman, Boston Globe
“Not since Virginia Woolf has anyone thought so trenchantly about the strange art of biography.”—Christopher Benfey
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Janet Malcolm is the author of The Journalist and the Murderer, The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, and Reading Chekhov, among other books. She writes for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books and lives in New York City.
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. The author of The Journalist and the Murderer, Reading Chekhov, In the Freud Archives, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (& others), asks at the beginning of this extraordinary work of literary biography, criticism, and investigative journalism, 'How had the pair of elderly Jewis lesbians survived the Nazis?' The pair, of course, is modernist master Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, the 'worker bee' who administered to Stein's needs throughout their 40-yearexpatriate 'marriage.' As Malcolm pursues the mystery of the couple's charmed life in Vichy France, her subject becomes the larger question of biographical truth. Winner of the 2008 PEN/Jacqueline Bogard Weld Award for Biography. Illus. Seller Inventory # 3323491
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography: the story of the mystifying relationship between the brilliant and affable Gertrude Stein and her brooding companion, Alice B. Toklas"Janet Malcolm deftly captures Alice B. Toklas's legendary 40-year partnership with the brilliant modernist Gertrude Stein in Two Lives, clearing up a few mysteries along the wayincluding how two Jewish women were able to survive World War II in their provincial French chateau with the help of a Vichy collaborator."Vogue"Shrewd, humane, and beautifully written." John Gross, Wall Street Journal "How had the pair of elderly Jewish lesbians survived the Nazis? Janet Malcolm asks at the beginning of this extraordinary work of literary biography and investigative journalism. The pair, of course, is Gertrude Stein, the modernist master whose charm was as conspicuous as her fatness and thin, plain, tense, sour Alice B. Toklas, the worker bee who ministered to Steins needs throughout their forty-year expatriate marriage. As Malcolm pursues the truth of the couples charmed life in a village in Vichy France, her subject becomes the larger question of biographical truth. The instability of human knowledge is one of our few certainties, she writes. The portrait of the legendary couple that emerges from this work is unexpectedly charged. The two world wars Stein and Toklas lived through together are paralleled by the private war that went on between them. This war, as Malcolm learned, sometimes flared into bitter combat.Two Lives is also a work of literary criticism. Even the most hermetic of [Steins] writings are works of submerged autobiography, Malcolm writes. The key of 'I' will not unlock the door to their meaningyou need a crowbar for thatbut will sometimes admit you to a kind of anteroom of suggestion. Whether unpacking the accessible Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, in which Stein solves the koan of autobiography, or wrestling with The Making of Americans, a masterwork of magisterial disorder, Malcolm is stunningly perceptive.Praise for the author:[Janet Malcolm] is among the most intellectually provocative of authors . . .able to turn epiphanies of perception into explosions of insight.David Lehman, Boston GlobeNot since Virginia Woolf has anyone thought so trenchantly about the strange art of biography.Christopher Benfey 'How had the pair of elderly Jewish lesbians survived the Nazis?' The author asks at the beginning of this work of literary biography and investigative journalism. The pair, of course, is Gertrude Stein, the modernist master and Alice B Toklas, the 'worker bee' who ministered to Stein's needs throughout their forty-year expatriate 'marriage'. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780300143102
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Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. 'How had the pair of elderly Jewish lesbians survived the Nazis?' The author asks at the beginning of this work of literary biography and investigative journalism. The pair, of course, is Gertrude Stein, the modernist master and Alice B Toklas, the 'worker bee' who ministered to Stein's needs throughout their forty-year expatriate 'marriage'. Seller Inventory # B9780300143102