A Record of the Present Moment: A Comparison of the Early and Later Narrative Work of Gertrude Stein
Date of Award
Spring 1991
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
Program/Concentration
English
Committee Director
Philip Raisor
Call Number for Print
Special Collections; LD4331.E64C61
Abstract
Gertrude Stein began and ended her literary career with the narrative, a mode of discourse which she reworked and altered to fit her vision of twentieth-century reality. In her early work with the narrative (Three Lives and The Making of Americans), she reevaluated traditional techniques of plot, theme, and character and began to emphasize the textual surface over referential meaning. But feeling restricted by the narrative, Stein left it behind in search of the value of the individual word, which she thought was lost in nineteenth-century rhetoric. For the next twenty-five years, she concentrated on poetry, plays, and portraits, emphasizing structure over meaning as she had begun to do in the narrative. However, for various reasons, she returned to the narrative, integrating many of the stylistic devices of those ''middle years'' into the novel. Her later narrative work, best represented by Ida and Mrs. Reynolds, strikes more of a balance between structure and meaning and offers a narrative form capable of reflecting both a modern and post-modern reality.
Rights
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DOI
10.25777/ntd5-hp84
Recommended Citation
Cohen, Elisa S..
"A Record of the Present Moment: A Comparison of the Early and Later Narrative Work of Gertrude Stein"
(1991). Master of Arts (MA), Thesis, English, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/ntd5-hp84
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds/253