Reflective Paper: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

In the chapter entitled “Gertrude Stein In Paris”, Gertrude Stein writes of her experiences living and socializing with the artists in Paris, all while working on her own writing. This writing takes on a unique reflection, as Stein writes this story from the point of view of her lover, Alice B. Toklas. The result is a piece of writing in which the reader sees Gertrude Stein as she sees herself, through the retelling of various anecdotes involving famous artists, such as Picasso and Matisse. 

While Stein wrote her book Three Lives in Paris, the artists that she was socializing with were also creating new, innovate work. Stein tells a story of purchasing a painting from Matisse when he was a struggling artist, and how that lead to her friendship with the Matisse family. Stein also had the opportunity to pose for a Picasso painting. In addition, she writes of being present when Picasso and Braque met, the two of whom would go on to pioneer the cubism movement. Clearly, Stein was exposed to an abundance of art that challenged previous traditions by introducing new forms of representations; the effects of this exposure are seen through the writing of Gertrude Stein.

The cubism movement established by Picasso and Braque began as these two artists were exploring new ways of representing the world they observed. Rather than replicate the image they viewed onto their canvas, these artists choose to deconstruct the objects they observed and represent them from multiple viewpoints. In this way, the objects became subjective and reflected the view of the artist. In Gertrude Stein’s writing, she is implementing this template of deconstruction toward literature.

Traditional literary form dictates that an autobiographical account be told from the first-person point of view through the use of “I”. In The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Stein represents her experiences from a new perspective. Through descriptions of herself, such as “This pleased Gertrude Stein immensely, she did not believe that any one could read anything she wrote and be interested. In those days she never asked any one what they thought of her work, but were they interested enough to read it,” the reader sees Gertrude Stein from a new perspective. The way Stein perceives herself becomes an additional layer to the retelling of these stories.

To make matters more convoluted, occasionally Stein uses the first person and tells a story as Alice B. Toklas observing her. For example, “I have heard Picasso and Gertrude Stein talk about it often and neither of them can remember... As I say Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso immediately understood each other.” In this passage, the reader is learning how Gertrude Stein perceives her lover, Alice B. Toklas, to perceive Stein. This form of storytelling adds a unique perspective to the writing of Stein. Through these multiple viewpoints, Stein is mirroring the cubist approach in her literature.

In an odd way, Gertrude Stein aligns herself closer to the reader through her distant approach to the telling of these stories. Through detaching herself from her own experiences and observing them as a third party, Stein joins the reader in viewing this aspirational world as a voyeur. The reader and Stein both experience this world as an outsider looking in. Through this exploration of new forms, Gertrude Stein is changing the way she sees her past, and the way the reader sees Gertrude Stein.