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Gertrude Stein Research Paper

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Akua Hawkins
School of Visual Arts
Writing and Literature II
April, 25, 2017

"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." The irony of Stein's words is extremely potent. Gertrude Stein was the indisputable core of the "Lost Generation" of art and literature making her one of the most prominent figures in literary history. She had personal connections with all of the other popular painters and writers, giving her the resources to become a successful art collector as well. She is also one of the most important female writings in women's history while also being one of the first authors to integrate feminism and lesbianism into their writing. Works like Q. E. D (1903) were one of the first popular literary …show more content…

Write the truest sentence that you know.” (Ernest Hemingway). By writing a “true” sentence an author’s story automatically becomes more worthwhile than an insincere story. Throughout his autobiographical novel, Ernest Hemingway interacts with many other popular authors and artist, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Ford Madox Ford. Perhaps his most interesting acquaintance is Gertrude Stein, one of the most popular and relevant female in history. Stein wrote many novels such as Q. E. D, Fernhurst, The Making of Americans, Word Portraits, and her most controversial work Three Lives. Though many Stein’s other novels were vehement declarations of her own homosexuality, its Three Lives second short story Melanctha that receives the most attention by civil rights historians due to its first person narrative of a “mulatto” American. The story has been criticized by many since Gertrude Stein was not an African American nor was she closely associated with any black people yet she claims this work is an autobiography. Though sure Melanctha was meant to be an enlightening work, possibly to portray the many American civil rights issues in the early 20th century regarding African Americans, the story overall is over ambitious and reflect Stein pretentious attitude that readers saw a glimpse of in A Movable

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