Gertrude Stein

An Afterlife

By: Francesca Wade

Narrated by: Francesca Wade

A Washington Post Top 10 Book of the Year
Fresh Air Top 10 Book of the Year

This critically acclaimed, “superb” (The Washington Post) biography of one of the most influential and mythologized literary figures of the 20th century examines both Gertrude Stein’s life and her partner’s emergence from the shadows after her death, in the decades-long fight to ensure her legacy.

Gertrude Stein’s salon at 27 rue de Fleurus in the 6th arrondissement of Paris is the stuff of literary legend. Many have tried to capture the spirit of the place that once entertained and fostered the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pablo Picasso, but perhaps none as determinedly, and self-consciously, as Stein herself. In this “well researched, intriguing” (The Atlantic) biography of the trailblazing author, art collector, salonnière, and tastemaker, Francesca Wade rescues Stein from the tangle of contradictions that has characterized her legacy, presenting us with this towering literary figure, and her enigmatic partner, as we’ve never seen them before.

A genius to her admirers, a charlatan to her detractors, Gertrude Stein achieved international celebrity in 1933 with her bestselling memoir The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, written in the voice of her devoted partner—a triumph, which, ironically, only drew attention away from the avant-garde poetry she called her “real” writing. After Stein’s death in 1946, Alice B. Toklas made it her mission to shepherd all of Stein’s unpublished writing into print while negotiating her own fraught role in the complex mythology they had built together. Meanwhile, the biographers who flocked to Stein’s newly opened archive found a surprising trove of secrets that would change Stein’s image forever: a forgotten novel, a cache of love letters, and a series of notebooks that shed entirely new light on her early years in Paris.

Pushing beyond the conventions of literary biography, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife “will forever be an essential tool for anyone studying or reading Gertrude Stein,” (The New York Review of Books) through its bold examination of the nature of legacy and memory itself, uncovering the origins of Stein’s radical style and revealing new depths to the storied relationship that made it possible. Captivating and brilliant, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife is a groundbreaking examination of a true literary giant.

A Stunning Stein after Stein

A meticulously researched and riveting story of Stein’s life and legacy. Wade‘s framing of an “afterlife“ moves us beyond the familiar story of a modernist genius to the long, contested process by which Stein’s reputation was constructed, defended, and reinvented during her lifetime and after her death. Attentive to the act of biography itself and to how lives are rendered and remembered, Wade offers a nuanced portrait of Stein along with a study of how literary history is made.

Fabulous biography

I loved this book. If you ever found yourself thinking “A rose is a rose” and wonder where it came from, this is the back story. Fabulous detail about the lives of both Stein and Toklas. So glad I read it!!

Fascinating biography of an important figure.

Gertrude Stein was an important figure in 20th Century arts & letters and a centerpiece of European culture. This is a lively account of her life, friends, and literary contributions. It is well researched and reliable in its account. The discussion of her influence is a significant factor in making this a worthwhile addition to previous discussions of Gertrude Stein and adds very much to our understanding of the importance of Alice B. Toklas to Stein's life, art, and legacy.

so many epiphanies

I have been dubious about Stein, somewhat familiar (and easily intimidated) with her work but mostly aware of her notoriety and the Parisian salons of her home. Wow Francesca has cracked open a whole plethora of angles and not shied away from the good the bad or the ugly. Most of all I was pleasantly surprised to discover that an embrace of queer love (despite the extreme pressures to the contrary) allowed for her creative out put and that her novels and poems were her progeny, her children. Gertrude Stein & Alice B Toklas truly are our modern queer grandmothers.

Wonderful Listen

The book is so well-researched and structured. It does what the best literary biographies do: a careful balance of analysis and story. Unlike other accounts, it focuses on the making of the myth of Gertrude Stein— by her, by Toklas, and by others.

Wade’s reading is also excellent and easy to listen to.