GERTRUDE AND ALICE
The Fiction of Autobiography

Gertrude Stein explored the idea of writing in the style of the cubist painters. For many readers her works were inaccessible but to some she seemed the first modern voice. How do her “easier” books, The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas and Wars I Have Seen, incorporate her earlier inventions? Some thought her fame would be fleeting, but in 2011 she is still being written about, in academia as well as in The New Yorker. Why? Linda Simon wrote: “...the Autobiography…not only achieved the vulgar celebrity she craved but brilliantly solved the koan of autobiography by disclaiming responsibility for the one being written.” How near to truth does a biography come? The core readings are the Autobiography, and Gertrude and Alice by Janet Malcolm. Selections from other material will also be included.

COURSE LENGTH: 12 weeks
DISCUSSION TEAM: Michael Danby-Smith, Anne Fitzpatrick, Judith Gray
FIRST SESSION: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 3:45 pm