Maybe one would have to spend a lifetime reading Poetry in order to pick up,
on a first reading, what is really going on in Lifting Belly. At any rate,
most of the other pieces of Stein are written in a style that is far more
complex and challenging than Lifting Belly.
The interesting thing to me about the erotic relationship between Gertrude
and Alice, is that it turns the tables upside down: the stereotype that
Gertrude is the "boss" and the "husband" and the butch one calling the shots
is simply not true.
Frail, petite, thin "wifey" Alice is the one who really had the power in the
house. Alice is the one who had the Ace up her sleeve in knowing she could
withhold or grant, on any given day, what was obviously the ultimate pleasure
to Gertrude Stein. With this bargaining chip, Alice could get Gertrude to do
anything she wanted her to do. Alice is the king pin, the one in control,
not Gertrude. And evidently this is exactly the way Gertrude wanted it.
But I am more interested in the written pieces of Gertrude Stein as Works of
Art in themselves. Understanding how Lifting Belly succeeds as a Work of Art
is far more important to me than the obviously wonderful and complex
relationship between Gertrude and Alice. And ultimately it may be impossible
to separate the two human beings from each other, and the union between them
that creatively allowed and endowed and freed and blessed the psyche of
Gertrude Stein to go on writing day after day, producing her stunning works
of art. Almost 60 years after her death, her writing appears as fresh as the
night it was written.
One of the nicest things about reading Gertrude Stein is that there is never
a hint of self-pity. She is always up-beat and optimistic - even radiant. A
lot of that is due to the imaginative use of the sexual power Alice knew she
possessed over Gertrude Stein.
Gertrude Stein is the most boring writer I have ever read, but she is also a
better writer than every other writer I have read - which means she is the
best writer I have ever read. Those who really know her work will know
exactly what I mean.
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