Perhaps the most famous example of early twentieth-century lesbian autobiography is The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas (1933), written by American modernist Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). As its title suggests, The Autobiography ruptures the conventional assumption that autobiography's subject is the author herself. Here Toklas, Stein's lifelong partner, is the nominal subject.

This decision to have her lover's voice mediate her story allows Stein to interrogate the boundaries between author, narrator, and subject: Where does Stein end and Toklas begin--or, rather, where does Toklas begin and Stein end? Do they share the same story? Stein's innovative narrative strategy here attests to her sustained commitment to experimental writing; it made her famous and, perhaps more important, it pays formal homage (albeit in a highly coded way) to her relationship with Toklas.

With occasional glimpses into her early life, it describes her years in Paris until 1932. At 27 Rue de Fleurus, Gertrude Stein established a formidable literary and artistic salon, and this book provides a record of her friendships with some of the world's foremost artists and writers - Picasso, Apollinaire, Matisse and Braque - her impressions of Paris during the World War I and then the post-war American "invasion".

272 pages