The Biography of Alice B. Toklas

by Linda Simon

In Paris, Gertrude reigned, but Alice ruled. She was cook, critic, publisher, lover, and muse to one of the most celebrated women of letters in this century. This first biography of Gertrude Stein's companion, Alice B. Toklas, takes us from her childhood in San Francisco through her instant attraction and forty year devotion to the woman she believed to be a genius. Toklas emerges as a formidable personality, choosing and rejecting Gertrude's friends from their brilliant coterie: Hemingway ("I made Gertrude get rid of him"), Pound ("so sad and so very mistaken"), Fitzgerald ("the most gifted and intelligent of all"), Picasso, Matisse, and many more. Author Linda Simon has woven a deeply affecting portrait of the woman "married" to a great literary pathfinder - a relationship that would help to shape the course of the arts in modern times.

Contained within its pages are photographs by Carl Van Vechten, Cecil Beaton, and others; a complete bibliography; and a thirty-page appendix in which obscure references in Gertrude's writings are explained.

"It's fitting that Alice B. Toklas . . . should be the subject of a biography. With her acid tongue, shrewd judgement, vitality, and intense loyalty she was a fairly remarkable person in herself." - Publishers Weekly.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, LGBT

427 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Linda Simon is Professor of English and Chair of the English Department at Skidmore College in New York, where she has taught since 1997. Previously, she was Director of the Writing Center and at Harvard University. She is the author of biographies of Alice B. Toklas, Thornton Wilder, and Lady Margaret Beaufort, as well as articles in such journals as The New England Quarterly, Salmagundi, and Literature and Philosophy. She teaches literature and nonfiction creative writing and lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alice B. Toklas was in many ways a hidden force. Not everyone realizes how much of an influence she was, and how much the genius of Gertrude Stein was a result of collaboration. Naturally, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas was written by Stein, but inspired by her muse and collaborator, Toklas. Theirs was a dynamic and inspirational partnership.

Now this book is called >The Biography of Alice B. Toklas, with a wink and a nod to the ersatz >Autobiography.

Alice was opinionated, energetic, forceful and pretended to be invisible. But ignore her at your peril. She is the key to understanding the life and the work of the attention grabbing Gertrude Stein. This volume has lots of pictures.

[Lisa Poor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book for all the love and respect held between Gertrude and Alice. Theirs really was a perfect match. All the Who’s Who in the book was interesting; I was very familiar with their friendships with Picasso, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, but I ran into surprises! Donald Sutherland passed away while I was reading. I had no idea that he was a literary friend. Now I’m going to read Gertrude’s version.

[Jessie Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because of Gertrude Stein's prominence in "Proust Was a Neuroscientist," which I enjoyed very much. In the end, I ditched this book. The references to artists and the culture of Paris in the early 1900s made zero sense to me and aren't really aligned with my interests. Her writing style is unique and I will try to read something else of her's in the near future. There were even great parts in this one, but it was just too difficult for me to get through.

“It was not what France gave you but what it did not take away from you that was important,”

Gertrude Stein died firmly in character on July 27, 1946, having delivered from her hospital bed a final illustration of her searching wit. “What is the answer?” she inquired of Alice, and getting no answer said, laughing, “In that case, what is the question?”

I myself have had no liking for violence and have always enjoyed pleasures of needlework and gardening. I am fond of paintings, furniture, tapestry, houses and flowers and even vegetables and fruit-trees. I like a view but I like to sit with my back turned to it.

One of his axioms I always remember, if you must do a thing do it graciously. He also told me that a hostess should never apologise for any failure in her household arrangements, if there is a hostess there is insofar as there is a hostess no failure.

Human nature is so permanent in France that they can afford to be as temporary as they like with their buildings.

Pablo once remarked, when you make a thing, it is so complicated making it that it is bound to be ugly, but those that do it after you they don’t have to worry about making it and they can make it pretty, and so everybody can like it when the others make it.

Max Jacob made his famous remark, it is wonderful to long for a woman for seven years and to possess her at last. Picasso made the more practical one, why should they marry simply in order to divorce. This was a prophecy.

It was Edwin Dodge who apropos of these said, the lives of great men oft remind us we should leave no sons behind us.

[Sean Meriwether · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a few others, I picked this book up in error, thinking it was Gertrude Stein’s "name dropping" version. However, I might have been better off with this actual biography. Ms. Simon’s thesis is that there would never have been a Gertrude Stein without an Alice B. Toklas, who promoted and inspired her (and perhaps not a Picasso without a Stein); Ms. Toklas was the person who engineered the myth around the author and poet and was a significant muse for her body of work. This well-researched book gives insight into one of the most revered lesbian relationships of the 20th century, and highlights all the painters, writers and poets that they sponsored and/or inspired. One of those examples of how one person can be a substantial influence without creating anything on her own. Ms. Toklas was at the crux of one of the most interesting artistic periods in history.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half way through, I find that I really like the biography format as a lens to view historical moments. I didn't know much about Toklas or Gertrude Stein, but it's a good introduction to their world - which is a pretty central one to the history of modern creative enterprise. It was also good to view the couple via Alice, because the image of Gertrude Stein is already cemented so strongly in the history of modernism.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this used paperback at a local bookstore. Duh, I thought I was getting "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," by Gertrude Stein. Nope, this in a BIOgraphy written by Linda Simon. So far though, I'm enjoying it.

Now finished reading. Read my review at my blog.

[Cookbookjj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as balanced as a biography should be.