ENTERTAINMENT

Relationship engaging, but clogged with journal notes

Gertrude and Alice

by Diana Souhami Pandora/Harper $14.

Reviewed by George Barnum

No other epoch in American literary history has been as thoroughly analyzed and discussed and dissected as the period between the two world wars in Paris. The writers of the so-called Lost Generation moved in circles described by their connections and by their styles.

Without doubt one of the best known and least understood centers around which one circle orbited is Gertrude Stein. Although not really part of that Lost Generation (she, in fact, is said to have coined the expression in describing the younger expatriate Americans who inundated Paris following World War I her influence on several of those who were, principally Hemingway, Sherwood Anderson, and Carl Van Vechten is well documented.

Stein, born in 1874, reared in California, educated at Johns Hopkins, came to and settled in Paris in 1902 and remained there until her death in 1946. From 1907 onward she shared her household and her life with Alice B. Toklas, also reared in California, also to spend the balance of her life in Paris.

Diana Souhami's book Gertrude and Alice probably will not give much new, useful information to anyone studying Stein or Toklas. Much of what passes for research ends up being irritatingly long cata-

logues of activities derived from journals, and literary commentary remains slight. (I found one of the promotional blurbs on the front cover ironic in this regard, trumpeting the book as "An antidote for all those laundry lists they call biographies nowadays," when in fact laundry list would seem to be the only kind of commonplace omitted from parts of the text.) What the book achieves in the end is a very sympathetic description of the extraordinary relationship between Stein and Toklas. It is, in fact, probably at its best in describing the years of Toklas' life following Stein's death, when Alice B. came very much into her own as writer and as the principal disciple in the promotion of Stein's work.

Toklas' entire being was largely subsumed in the personality and persona of Gertrude Stein, who believed herself a genius, and would tolerate the presence of no one who was not fervent in that belief as well. Souhami draws a portrait of the connection of Stein's work and what clearly can be seen as Toklas' work-the preoccupation with Stein.

What emerges is a picture of two individuals devoted to one another, involved in a very longstanding relationship both deeply personal and to a large extent publicly professional. For all its shortcomings as a documentary or interpretive work, the book is an engaging read, and very effectively explores the nature and substance of the bond between these two quite remarkable

women.

JUNE 25, 1993 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

You Are Invited

to the

Fourth Annual Garden Party

Sunday July 25, 1993

To Be Held at a Beautiful Bratenahl Mansion

Join everyone for an afternoon of fun and food in a relaxed outdoor setting and bid on a variety of auction items: antiques▼ art work by Chris Pekoc & Andrew Wyeth▼ film festival passes

balloon ride

concert tickets

dinner theatre packages catered dinner parties recordings restaurant meals▼ balloon ride autographed photos of Rock Hudson & Helen Hayes vacation packages to various locations and much, much more.

There will be a silent auction with art, service and entertainment tables loaded with goodies. Auctioneer extraordinaire, Evelyn Hayes, will again conduct the live auction.

Benefit donors will enjoy a delightful buffet brunch and beverages. Patrons, in addition, will have guided tours and special refreshments.

Major Benefit for the

Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center

For more information, call the Center at 522-1999

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Attention Pride '93 Security Volunteers!

Thank you for your generous gift of time and energy at the PRIDE '93 Festival.

Without your watchful eyes keeping PRIDE safe and your hard work setting up and tearing down, PRIDE '93 would not have been the great success it was. Many of you worked ten hours or more instead of your five hour shift and every one of you did a fantastic job.

Thanks again and stay proud!

Tracy "Over"