მოდერნისტული ფორმა გერტრუდ სტაინის "ელის ბ. ტოკლასის ავტობიოგრაფიაში"
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Date
2021
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უნივერსიტეტის გამომცემლობა
Abstract
Modernist literature has its origins in the fi rst part of the 20th century. Anglo-American
Modernist writers in general rebelled against clear-cut storytelling and formulaic
verse from the 19th century and infl uenced not only fi ction, but traditional autobiographical
practice and works.
“The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” was written by Gertrude Stein is considered
one of the richest and most irreverent biographies in history; It seemed to exemplify the
incorporation of the pre-war avant-garde into a much broader modernism. Published in 1933 “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” was written by Gertrude
Stein in the style and voice of her life partner, Alice B. Toklas. The paper puts forth distinctive
form and style of Stein’s autobiography. Based on unique structure of this autobiography
paper shows how Stein’s massive reimagining of traditional autobiographical
form. Stein’s distinctive style can be easily found in this book as autobiography turns out
to be a portrait of Stein herself, telling us much more about the particular episode of her
life than it does about biographical details. Distinctive feature of modernist writing is
that Stein writes in the fi rst person, taking on the persona of Toklas in order to examine
her own life and identity. So, paper is mainly focused on structure and use of modernist
techniques.
The autobiography begins when Alice B. Toklas moved to France in 1907. All of the
seven chapters of the book are connected with Paris and are recounting the vibrant and
literary life of among the Parisian avant-garde. Alice opens the doors to the literary salons
she held in her home hosting fellow expatriate American writers such as Ernest Hemingway,
T. S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound. Author tends to ignore any other historical periods as
less important compared to 1910-1920ies.
Interesting fact from modernist perspective, is that the author introduces us the third
character. Biography is written in the voice of Alice B. Toklas, so that, aside from making
a real present of her past, Stein created a fi gure of herself as seen by Toklas. Because the
reader is to assume that the autobiography was written by Steins’ friend Alice, much can
be said about Gertrude that she could not very well say about herself. As a real and a fi ctional
character, Gertrude can express her personal opinions on other famous artists like:
Sherwood Anderson, Thornton Wilder, and Virgil Thomson, Pablo Picasso and others.
So, readers have feeling that this is not autobiography of one person but recollection of
other autobiographies as well. On one hand Stein is blending many artists from various
countries, but same time author always underlines their distinctive national identity. Still
she did not refl ect an English writing style. For example, distinctive feature of autobiography
is her unconventional use of capitalization, writing ‘french’ instead of ‘French,’ and
‘american’ instead of ‘American’).
We also must pay attention to an illustrated edition of Gertrude Stein’s, The Autobiography
of Alice B. Toklas bursting with the bright, sophisticated, and fanciful images
which cannot explain anything to readers. On contrary, like the protagonist in the center
of the autobiography, these images are making autobiography more confusing.
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Keywords
მოდერნიზმი, აშშ, ლიტერატურა, Modernism, USA, Literature
Citation
ამერიკის შესწავლის საკითხები, VIII, 2021, გვ.: 325-337 / Journal of American Studies, VIII, 2021, p.: 325-337