Drawing on never-before-seen interviews, a richly researched, sweeping examination of one of the most influential and mythologized literary figures of the 20th century and her partner’s emergence from the shadows after her death, in the decades-long fight to ensure her legacy.
Wade’s superb new book...is the biography of both a woman and a reputation. The biography of the woman has been written several times already, though perhaps never so stylishly. The biography of the reputation is in large part fresh. Both are a pleasure to read ... Wade has a sense for character and an eye for detail, and in the first part of Gertrude Stein, she paints a vivid portrait of her striving, grasping subject ... The revelations in Gertrude Stein are exciting, but perhaps even more gripping are the characters the book brings so vividly to life.
An admirably thoughtful and responsible account of Stein ... Resisting hagiography, she has faced up to Stein’s more dubious characteristics, and has shown us vividly what she was like from the point of view of those who knew her. The result is a book that will forever be an essential tool for anyone studying or reading Gertrude Stein.
