CC BY
25PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES
LANGUAGE PECULIARITIES OF GERTRUDE STEIN'S
WORK
Kleshchina N.
Cand. Sc.
Sokolova S.
lecturer
Moscow State University of technologies and Management
ABSTRACT
The article deals with the features of modernism literature. It considers the style of writing of an American novelist Gertrude Stein - "Mother of Modernism" in literature in terms of lexico-grammatical devices, stylistic and syntactic aspects. A variety of factors which determine the choice of linguistic devices and stylistic means representing a "Portrait" genre in modernism literature are analyzed in the article.
Keywords: autobiography, "Portrait", writing style, modernism.
Introduction
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas: "My sentences do get under their skin. . ."
(The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas 70).
Every writer has a distinctive style of writing that is a trademark of an author. Since every writer has a unique way of being significantly different from other literature. The factors determining language behavior can be analyzed in terms of language functions. To determine and understand one's style of writing stylistic analysis is needed. Stylistics is a critical approach which applies methods and findings of linguistic science to study the variety of language means to express thoughts and emotions of a writer. It is essential for analyzing how an author uses language which is depicted in his/her works.
In our article we consider the writing style of a writer whose art was not appreciated till the middle of the 20th century but is of great interest today. Gertrude Stein was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector, a representative of modernism literature of the 20th century. Her works include novels, plays, stories, libretti and poems written in a highly idiosyncratic, playful, repetitive, and humorous style. She was the author behind "hermetic" works that are best illustrated by The Making of Americans: The Hersland Family; popularized writing such as The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas; speech writing and autobiographical writing, such as Brewsie and Willie. She is known for stream-of-consciousness experiments, rhythmical essays or "portraits", which were designed to evoke "the excitingness of pure being" and can be seen as literature's answer to visual art styles and forms such as Cubism. She created more than hundred portraits. Gertrude Stein is considered to be a "Mother of modernism".
Objectives of the Study
The study sought to analyze the writing style of Gertrude Stein in her works. Specifically we examined the writing style in terms of lexico-grammatical devices, stylistic and syntactic features.
Literature Review
This discusses the already conducted related studies which were useful in analyzing the present study.
This research helped in building and conceptualizing the present study.
The study of Bridgman Richard (1971) entitled "Gertrude Stein in pieces" focused on Gertrude Stein's entire body of work that is criticized and related to the events of her life in a perceptive study.
The study of Norico Iwamoto (n.d.) entitled "Sty-listics and Linguistic Analysis of a Literary Text using Systemic Functional Grammar" focused on linguistic structures and socially constructed meanings and relationship between them in a narrative text. According to the study the ideology and power relations underpin a literary text from a semantic-grammatical point of view.
The study had a bearing with the present study since the present study analyses the surface structure of the narratives using a language theory.
The study of Sedova Natalya entitled "Speech genre "A man portrait": communicative and pragmatic interpretation" focused on the main means of creating a fiction image and different ways of composite structure of a plot.
The study had a bearing with the present study since it considers the relation between a portrait description and communicative intention of a creator of this portrait, namely an intention to describe and recreate an object or a personality and its distinctive features with a right verbal detalization.
Relevant Aspects of Theoretical Framework
Determinative Factors of the Language of Modernism
There exists a variety of factors which determine the choice of linguistic devices and stylistic means representing a "Portrait" genre in modernism literature. Among the major factors influencing language of this genre are (1) meaning of "Portrait" in a literature and (2) reflection of history of modernism art in the language.
"Portrait" in literature is defined as an image of a man, personality, created through his description, since it makes a portrait a distinct genre of pictorial art, a special stylistic technique in a literary work. According to Dmitrievskaya L.N., «portrait in a literary work — one of ways to create an image of a character, reflecting his
or her personality, inner nature, soul through reflection of visage, that is a special form of comprehension of reality and a feature of an individual style of a writer» [2, c. 20-21].
The main feature of the language of modernism is copying history of modernism art. Transposition of words and syntactic changes in the text can be considered as an analogue of the cubism technique that disturbs the perspective on looking at the represented and recognizable object. This technique like in pictorial arts not only disfigures the reality but also simplifies and makes the form of work "flat". Herewith time and space are not the dominant categories neither in painting nor in literature of this direction.
Cubism reorganized a visual space and literature of modernism transformed a literature form. Cubism caused a spectator to pay attention to composition in plane and literature of modernism attracted readers by its language. New possibilities of written pieces perception was compared with an approach of artist-modernists for whom new ideas or themes were not of primary interest any more.
Referring to this fact Gertruda Stein tried to embody cubism ideas in her prose. She created literature sketches having called them on the analogy of the pictorial arts «Portraits» ("Dix Portraits" - 1930, "Portraits and Prayers" - 1934). Stain's cubism style is called in this way as it supposes a created by her a bag-of-words, arrangement of a phrase that minimize its base-form. Stain's «portrait» prose features absence of names that gives a feeling abstractionism, though Stein describes what she sees. Furthermore, portrait vision was created in a close dialogue with contemporary to her practitioners of portraiture.
In addition, autobiography is getting typical for modernism literature as a special attention being paid to the inner world of personality. Autobiography is one of the most specific features of Stein's works where a complicated system of relations is created: author - narrator - character. As a result the text of «Autobiography» is formed by several narration levels. The author becomes an observer of what is happening to characters.
Furthermore, in the language of modernism a definite parallelism between grammar in literature portraits and geometrization of the model face (portraits of Picasso and Sezanne) is noticeable. Let us consider an example of a literature cubism that followed this principle. («Picasso Portrait», 1909):
This one was working and something was coming then, something was coming out of this one then. This one was one and always there was something coming out of this one and always there had been something coming out of this one. This one had never been one not having something coming out of this one. This one was one having something coming out of this one. This one had been one whom some were following. This one was one whom some were following. This one was being one whom some were following. This one was one who was working.
Thus, «Stream of consciousness» became a technique of a new type of writing in modernism. «Stream of consciousness» is much more than a technique. It is a content of a work, its essence. Literature of modern-
ism represents not a result of thinking as a logically sequential chain of ideas and not a consciousness at the moment of high emotional and intellectual rise. It is a really everyday stream of consciousness that fixes different impressions.
Analysis of Gertrude Stein's works
Gertrude Stein as a representative of modernism literature of the 20th century defined most of her works as portraits, declaring the meaning of this genre for her works. She created more than hundred portraits.
Linguistic Devices Expressing Gertrude Stein's Genre
Lexico-Grammatical Devices
A definite parallelism is clearly distinguished between an experiment with grammar in literature portraits of G. Stein and geometrization of a face model that featured many portraits of Picasso and Sezanne. Portraying in context of fictional world of Gertruda Stein is inseparable from her grammar experiment [3, c. 65].
Analysis of the style of Gertruda Stein showed that it is characterized by using many lexico-grammatical devices. The most wide spread of them is an exceeding disposition of adjectives and adverbs as of "odd" elements of a text. For example it can be seen from the Stein's book «A Gay Book»:
Any one knowing anything is repeating that thing and being one repeating that thing makes of that one one coming to be one knowing something of some being ones beginning some other thing, beginning that thing. Any one having been doing anything and repeating the thing and not repeating the thing can come to be one knowing something of some being ones not saying anything in any way about that thing. Any one buying something and then not going on buying that thing can be one knowing something of some not saying anything to that one, saying very little to that one. [5, p. 4]
The other specific feature of Stein's works is absence of classical description. Clothes are described by associations and attention is given specifically to those details that cause these associations. Even color is not defined precisely. This description is typical of modernism as it runs through a personal perception of an author. For example:
He was dressed in what the French call the singe or monkey costume, overalls made of blue jean or brown, I think his was blue and it is called a singe or monkey because being all of one piece with a belt, if the belt is not fastened, and it very often is not, it hangs down behind and so makes a monkey. His eyes were more wonderful than even I remembered, so full and so brown, and his hands so dark and delicate and alert [7, p. 10].
A reserved lexicon is peculiar to the style of Stein's writing. It creates an impression of limited number of words in her books which are only replaced that can change a meaning and add a new shade of meaning. Moreover, with each new round new details are added and gradual development of thought happens. For example:
There are many kinds of men and many kinds of women and each kind of them have a different feeling in them about the baby that was once all them. There are many kinds of men and many kinds of women and there are many millions made of each kind of them. Each one
of the many millions of each kind of them have it in them a little to be different from all the other millions of their kind of them, but all of each kind of them have it in them to have the same kind of feeling about the little thing that was once all them, about the little things that come to a beginning through them, about the little things beginning all around them. There are many kinds of men and many kinds ofwomen and this will be a history of all the kinds of them and ofpairs of them[5, p. 5].
Puns and play of words are also used by Gertruda Stein quite often. For example, in a book «A Long Gay Book» where the name of this book sounds as a play of words. The word «gay» initially in the English language meant «funny, easy-going». Another example is «four sses are not singular». In the end of the 19th century the term «gay life» was widely used in the English language as an euphemism to denote whoredom and other amoral behavior. Quotation from Miss Furr and Miss Skeene, 1922 is in all probability is the first documented public usage of the word «gay» relating to homosexual relations: «They were... gay, they learned little things that are things in being gay,. they were quite regularly gay».
Strange adjectives are placed near nouns - «a fairy turtle» instead of «a fairy tale» (similar mistakes are typical for dyslexia). Verbs, mainly in imperative mood demand of subjects that they relate to nobody knows what: «please, tell the artichoke to underestimate valof'. Core motives can be noticed in different passeges even if the sentences bewilder themselves: «Candy is lively. The kindness of smelling. That last scent is lingering. If the precious thing is ripe it has been washed. Smelling is not patient. It is reduced and remembered».
Stylistic features
The main stylistic device of Gertrude Stein's works is the flow of consciousness. For example, «A Long Gay Book» is concerned with the theme «pairs of people and their relation...». The writer made up a list of characters that are absolutely contrary to her:
«Ollie, Paul; Paul, Fernande; Larr and me, Jane and me, Hattie and Ollie, Margaret and Phillip.every-body I know, Murdock and Elise, Larr and Elise, Larr and Marie... everybody I can think of ever, narrative after narrative ofpairs ofpeople ...everybody Michael and us and Victor Herbert, Farmert and us, Bessie Hessel and me».
And on the same page she's already writing rather about groups of people, than about couples - «the Pauline group and.the Pauline quality in Ollie». As she continued to write down the thoughts, old names and old subjects that emerged in the chaotic sequence, but all this was the "stream of consciousness" which was so Gertrude Stein's manner. Also peculiar understanding of time is also a peculiar characteristic of Gertrude Stein's works. In essay "What Is Masterpieces" Stein sought to recreate realism of the thoughts - «realism of my thoughts» [9, c. 98], which she understands as the "reflecting" and "feeling" occurring continuously and at the same time. In other words, she aimed for recreating of thoughts and feelings directly at the time of the letter. In this special subjective understanding of time Stein develops William James's ideas. James believed "a stream of consciousness, a thought or subjective life" is the only human reality. «Experience is seen as unique, existing
here and now, continuous. Experience takes place only in the present - what we have learned once, is included in the real situation and is transformed under it's influence. If we're able to predict or to count something in the future, then it is possible only relying on impressions of the present»/4, c. 224-225] .
Arguing on time in the essays and lectures, Gertrude Stein calls such 'time' term «complete actual present», «prolonged present», «continuous present», «sense of immediacy», «simultaneous knowledge".
«It was the moment Max Jacob has since called the heroic age of cubism. I remember not long ago hearing Picasso and Gertrude Stein talking about various things that had happened at that time, one of them said but all that could not have happened in that one year, oh said the other, my dear you forget we were young then and we did a great deal in a year.
In this example various temporary layers are combined and by that Stein "is cleared of letter time", time of the letter ceases to exist. Here the reader as if stays at several temporary levels: events of 1907 when Toklas has arrived to Paris, events which have taken place some years later, and the events which are brought closer by the time of writing of the autobiography. Thus, such features of style as repetitions (alphabetic, words, offers, phrases, thoughts), nature, lack of the classical description and consecutive narration, a statement in style of a stream of consciousness, a peculiar understanding of time are characteristic of works of the writer.
The writer consciously narrows the dictionary, rejects adjectives and adverbs. As a rule writers seek to show richness of the language, then Stein minimized the verbiage. Her prose is deprived of any floridity. Her language in many cases as if exists without substantial loading.
Syntactic Features
In Gertrude Stein's prose language has to be appreciated in itself. Using the same mere verbiage, Gertrude Stein rearranges them, only slightly changing sense, emphasizing and strengthening that is said in the first sentence [1, c. 248].
The construction of her sentences and word order is actually a line of never-ending puns and wordplay. It is connected with the utmost interest of the writer - the American English language - and how to use words in it.
Gertrude Stein's style is characterized by repetitions (alphabetic, words, offers, phrases, thoughts as refrains). Speech repetitions and special creation of sentences are shown , for example, in «A Long Gay Book». Constant reprises around can return the reader to what this paragraph or a certain subject which is touched at the moment began with. For example:
Any one being one being a little one is being then one having some, having some one knowing something of that thing. Some being a little one are asking then how some other one could have been one being a little one. Some being a little one are then not needing anything of asking anything. Some being a little one are forgetting then having been asking anything. Some being a very little one are not then needing being one being existing/6, p. 6].
One more example:
Some are not needing that any one being a little one is then being existing. Some are not needing any one being a little one. Some are not needing any one having been a little one. Some are not needing that any one has been one being existing. Some are needing that every one is being one being existing [6, p. 6].
The sentence structure at Stein assumes a statement of the same thought by insignificant variations. For example: «If he were seeing clear if Gibbons were seeing clearly he would clearly see that he was describing what he was seeing» («Если бы он четко понимал если бы Гиббонс четко понимал он бы четко понял что он описывал то что он понимал»).
And still the writer insisted on what couldn't be repeated, even using the same words, because as William James wrote, human consciousness isn't static. (« When the identical fact recurs, we must think of it in a fresh manner, see it under a somewhat different angle, apprehend it in different relations from those in which it last appeared»).
In "Alice B. Toklas's Autobiography" the writer uses the following repetitions:
In America, even in San Francisco, I had been accustomed to see women at picture shows and some men, but here there were men, men, men, sometimes women with them but more often three or four men with one woman, sometimes five or six men with two women [7, p. 11].
Anaphoric repetitions can be found already in early works of the writer, for example:
Every day now, Jeff seemed to be coming nearer, to be really loving. Every day now, Melanctha poured it all out of him, with more freedom. Every day now, they seemed to be having more and more, both together, of this strong, right feeling [8, c. 109].
Critics noticed lack of punctuation, tongue-tie in the very first publications of Stein, as if the author wasn't a native speaker. Gertrude Stein used this weakness and has turned her in a strong one, and has hit the nail, developing a new current -modernism. Let's give an example of lack of punctuation in her text:
There are many kinds of men and many kinds of women and of each kind of them there are always many millions in the world and any one can know by watching the many kinds there are of them and this is to be a history of all the kinds of them[5, c. 3].
Shift of words in the offer is also characteristic of this period of Gertrude Stein's creativity:
More and more every day now they seemed to know more really, what it was each other one was always feeling. More and more now every day Jeff found in himself, he felt more trusting [8, c. 109].
Thus, the writer consciously breaks syntax, using rather simple receptions of the usual speech: repetitions, replacements of an accent and sense of the sentence, lack of the description and consecutive narration.
Conclusion
Gertrude Stein is called "Mother of Modernism". Her creativity is characterized by a non-standard ap-
proach and a language usage with uncountable repetitions and unusual sentence structure. The writer uses language to go beyond accepted standards in literature. In the majority of the works Gertrude Stein refuses traditional technology of literary creativity. Thanks to experimenting she has created not only the original style, and it is rather several styles, and all of them are deeply individual and unique.
For Gertrude Stein's creativity 'portrait' genre was especially significant. Such features of style as lack of punctuation marks, repetitions (alphabetic, words, offers, phrases, thoughts), disposal of adjectives and adverbs, puns and word-play, nature, lack of the classical description and consecutive narration, a statement in style of a stream of consciousness, a peculiar understanding of time are characteristic of the writer's works.
The carried out analysis shows that life and work of Gertruda Stein are inseparable. Her prose and verses are highly autobiographical, cast by events from her life, people from a close circle of contacts. The idea of the modernist letter was, according to the writer, in creating as much as possible grammatical opportunities and support the text, using these opportunities as often as possible, yet won't exhaust them.
Her talent and contribution to literature had not been appreciated till the middle of the XX century. Many of Gertrude Stein's works remained misunderstood by contemporaries and have gained full and final recognition only after her death.
In conclusion it should be noted that Gertrude Stein's works are not similar to neither American, nor to any other literature, and her influence on formation and development of modernism is unprecedented.
References
1. Bass I.A. Life and times of Gertrude Stein. — M.: Agraf, 2013. - P. 248.
2. Dmitrievskaya L. N. Landscape and portrait: problem of defining and literature analyses (landscape and portrait in works of Z.N. Gippius). -M., 2005. -P.90.
3. Morjenkova N.V. Avant-garde experiment of Gertrude Stein: In quest of genre. - M.: Book house «LIBROKOM», 2012. - P. 165.
4. Surova O. Man in modernism culture / An-dreev L.G., Kosikov G.K., Pahsaryan N.T. and others. Foreign literature of the second millennia 1000-2000. -M.: High school, 2001. - P.224-225
5. Gertrude Stein. A Gay Book. - New York, 1997.
6. Getrude Stein. A Long Gay Book. - New York, 1994.
7. Gertrude Stein. Autobiography of Alice B.Toklas. - Vintage, Reissue Edition, 1990.
8. Gertrude Stein. Three Lives. - New York, 1994.
9. Gertrude Stein. What are masterpieces. - N.Y.: Pitman Publishing Corporation, 1970.
10. Gertrude Stein. Writings 1903-1912. The library of America. Volume 1. - P.913
