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Article: Gertrude on the block: writing, love, and fame in Stanzas in Meditation.(Gertrude Stein)
- Article from:
- Philological Quarterly
- Article date:
- March 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 University of Iowa. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gertrude Stein once wrote, referring to Alice B. Toklas, that she is "the air of here and there," but I would suggest that the "heir" space Toklas occupies during the composition of Stanzas in Meditation is confined to a single one of Gertrude Stein's lungs, perhaps the right. The other houses Stein's mantra, with all of mantra's deepest associations to consciousness and its Sanskrit origin manyate, meaning "he thinks," which is for Stein, "I write." For Stanzas in Meditation is both a solemnization of and surrender to the Word, to Love, to Alice B. Toklas, as muse-turned-harpy, but also to the demon paradox of language to both affirm and deny Stein's left lung, words.
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