Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife
The structure...allows its readers to understand something that usually goes unmentioned in literary biographies. A writer is not merely the sum total of known events that occurred to her between birth and death, she is also the network of readers created by her work during that period and afterward ... When Wade is confronted by writing she doesn’t understand, curiosity rather than resentment wins the day ... The superiority of Wade’s approach can be measured by the insights into Stein’s work that she gleans from it ... Thoughtful and thorough, with insightful interpretations of her work embedded in a compelling narrative of her and Toklas’s life, Wade’s biography makes a convincing case that, while her status as a cultural figure is secure, her writing remains, if anything, underrated.
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Buoyant if somewhat boosterish ... Wade translates even Stein’s seeming shortcomings into strengths ... Wade draws on extensive interviews.
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Judicious ... The first half, a vivid but condensed account of her life, doesn’t break much new ground ... Wade’s measured sympathy for Toklas redeems her from pathos by treating her not as a casualty but as a stoic.
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