Gertrude Stein - Collector, Critic, and Writer

Gertrude Stein was born on February 3, 1874 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. She was the youngest of five children in a Jewish family and moved with them to Vienna and then to Paris for her father's work. Her father worked as a railroad executive and was quite wealthy. Once her parents died, she was sent to live with her mother's family in Baltimore and her oldest brother took over the family business.

She attended Radcliffe College and Johns Hopkins Medical School. In 1903 Gertrude moved to Paris and lived with her brother Leo Stein who was an art critic. She collected art and had a particular eye for masterpieces. Her first collection was assembled with the help of Leo and became well known thanks to her friends who loved the collection and wrote about it in their newspapers. "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" is one of her most famous quotes because it describes the sheer simplicity that a rose really is just a rose.

Gertrude was 72 when she died of stomach cancer. Her writing and critics we valued by all of her friends like Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway who would come to her for advice on their works. She was also a lesbian and wrote the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas who is said to be her partner.

one of the paintings in her collection Woman with a Hat

Questions

1. What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason that she left America to pursue her work in France?

Gertrude originally first went to France because of her father's job, but moved back to live with her brother. She loved being there and living a lifestyle with artistic freedoms in her favorite city. She held salons where her friends would come over for a little get together and originated the idea from a friend back in the U.S.

2.What do you think of your person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?

I like that she was different and and wrote the way she thought of things. She was not afraid of speaking her mind and describing things the way that she thought they should be. In her book Pairs France, she rambles on and doesn't seem to ever complete one story or thought she just jumps from story to story.

3.Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be interested in more of their work? Why or why not?

Yes, I would like to read one of her books or visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art which holds a collection of hers that includes Picasso paintings. I think that if I were to visit Paris one day it would be really cool to visit her apartment that she lived in with her brother.

Sample Poem

A Long Dress

That is the current that makes machinery,
that makes it crackle,
what is the current that presents a long line and a necessary waist.
What is this current.
What is the wind, what is it.

Where is the serene length,
it is there and a dark place is not a dark place,
only a white and red are black, only a yellow and green are blue,
a pink is scarlet, a bow is every color. A line distinguishes it.
A line just distinguishes it.

F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Elite American French Writer

         
     F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896. His parents were named Edward and Mollie Fitzgerald. His father was a furniture maker. His mother's aunt left them money and it was enough so that the family could afford to be in the upper middle class. The resentment and admiration for the people who had more than him were a big part in his writing. Fitzgerald attended prep schools in St. Paul and then he went to Princeton.

      
     Ever since he was a child, Fitzgerald was inspired by his resentment and admiration for those who were richer and who had more than him. He was also inspired by his wife, Zelda. His influences were aspiration, literature, Princeton,  and alcohol.

          
     Throughout his life, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a heavy alcoholic. He was married to a woman named Zelda. She was also a writer and because he did not want her to steal his spotlight, he payed his publisher not to publish any of her works. His works include "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "The Great Gatsby", and "This Side of Paradise". He died from a massive heart attack. Zelda died in 1948 in a fire at the Highland Mental Hospital in Ashville, North Carolina.


1. What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason that he left America to pursue his work in France?
     He went to France because he enjoyed being there. I read that he took many trips there before he moved there. He found it much more inspirational in France than it was in America. He was also a heavy drinker and they were able to drink more freely in France than they were in America.
   
Sample of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button":

On the September morning consecrated to the enormous event he arose nervously at six o'clock, dressed himself, adjusted an impeccable stock, and hurried forth through the streets of Baltimore to the hospital, to determine whether the darkness of the night had borne in new life upon its bosom.

When he was approximately a hundred yards from the Maryland Private Hospital for Ladies and Gentlemen he saw Doctor Keene, the family physician, descending the front steps, rubbing his hands together with a washing movement -- as all doctors are required to do by the unwritten ethics of their profession.

Mr. Roger Button, the president of Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, began to run toward Doctor Keene with much less dignity than was expected from a Southern gentleman of that picturesque period. "Doctor Keene!" he called. "Oh, Doctor Keene!"

The doctor heard him, faced around, and stood waiting, a curious expression settling on his harsh, medicinal face as Mr. Button drew near.

    

3. What do you think of your person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?   

     I  liked Fitzgerald's work very much. It was very interesting how you could tell so much about his personality just by reading his books. I read "The Curious Case Of  Benjamin Button". You could really tell how snobby he was, and I thought that was really funny. Yes, his work does appeal to me. It does because of all the reasons above.  

4. Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be interested in more of their work? Why or why not?

   What I know about the person, and his work, really makes me interested in reading more of his work. I read one of his books and I loved it. I would definitely be interested in reading more of his books. I would because I liked his style of writing. Also, I enjoyed reading his books because of the strange topics he writes about. 

     

Alexander Calder: The Innovative Sculptor

Alexander Calder was born in 1898 in Pennsylvania to a sculptor, his father, and a painter, his mother. His father was publicly known, his family traveled across the country during his childhood. At a young age, he was encouraged to explore his creativity. For Christmas one year when he was 10, he presented his parents with sculptures.

Originally, Alexander Calder did not intend to become an artist. After high school, he enrolled in Stevens Institute of Technology. In 1919, he graduated receiving a degree in engineering. For several years after his graduation, he worked at different jobs from an automotive engineer to a fireman in a ship’s boiler room. In 1923 Calder committed his life to art and enrolled at the Art Students League in New York.

In 1930, Alexander Calder visited the Piet Mondrian’s studio in Paris. He was very impressed by Mondrian’s colors and abstraction. For weeks following his visit to Mondrian’s studio, he created paintings of an abstract nature only. The result of thing was that he preferred to be a sculptor rather than a painter. In the fall of 1931, Calder created his first truly kinetic sculpture. This gave form to an entirely new type of art. Calder also realized that he could make mobiles that could move without mechanical help, he called these “stabiles.” Calder’s time in Paris proved to be very important to his career. He discovered that he wanted to pursue sculpting and become known for his sculptures. In Paris, he practically gave birth to a new art form. He left France in 1933.

Alexander Calder also tried is hand at large sculptures. His first attempts were made for gardens, but bent easily in strong winds. In 1937, he made a large, bolted stabile called Devil Fish. That piece was exhibited in a Pierre Matisse Gallery show, Stabiles and Mobiles. In his later years, Calder concentrated his efforts on his large-scale work. His major monumental sculptures are on display all over the world. He as work displayed in Paris, Italy, New York, Montreal, Mexico, and Germany.

Calder died on November 11, 1976, at the age of 78. Two months after his death, Calder posthumously was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford. In 1987, Calder’s family founded the Calder Foundation. The Calder Foundation has about 300 sculptures, 55 monumental large-scale sculpture, and over 3000 works on paper.

Questions:

1.What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason he left America to pursue their work in France?

I believe that Alexander Calder traveled to France looking inspiration. He went to Piet Mondrian's studio looking for inspiration. He found a liking to abstract art, but only for a few weeks. He discovered he was meant to be a sculptor. He also met his wife Louisa in Paris. I don't believe there was a certain reason he left for Paris, but his career certainly benefited for his visit to France.

2.What did you think of the person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?

I found Alexander Calder's work fascinating. I think it is very appealing to the eye because of the all the wire in the mobiles. The curves are very neat, to say the least, to look at. I like how all the components of the mobiles have to have complete balance in order to function. His work appeals to me because his work is intricate, but simple. All the parts have to have the same weight. When they do, they form simple patterns.

3.Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be interested in more of their work? Why or why not?

I would like to see more of Calder's work. I would like to see some of his abstract work that he rejected. i would love to visit one of his monumental sculptures in New York or maybe even Paris. I wouldn't mind visiting one of his galleries, either.

James Baldwin

James Baldwin was a writer born in Harlem, New York, on August 2, 1924. He was the oldest out of 9 children and had a tough relationship with his stepfather. Baldwin knew he was smart and, when he was fourteen, found himself spending a lot of time in libraries. His love for writing began here.

James Baldwin's first job was as a preacher, preaching at the Fireside Pentecostal Church in his hometown. But in the 1940s, he turned away from his preaching job and focused on his writing career.

He moved to Greenwich Village, where he met Richard Wright, a famous writer at the time. Baldwin hadn't yet written a novel, only focusing on writing book reviews. Wright helped him to get a document to support himself while writing in Paris. Baldwin left for Paris in 1948, distancing himself from the society he came from.

Baldwin's first novel was Go Tell it on the Mountain, written in 1953. He had moved to Switzerland to finish it.

After writing his first novel, Baldwin moved from Paris to Istanbul, Turkey. His second novel was Giovanni's Room, published in 1956.

About 27 years ago on November 12, Baldwin made an appearance at the University of North Carolina as a speaker for the university's Human Rights Week. The Daily Tar Heel, a school newspaper at UNC, quoted a portion of Baldwin's speech he made at the university that said, “It was not true that I was waiting to be discovered, it was not true that my discovery was by Christians who wanted to save my soul. It’s not true that I came here in chains, the happy darkie; it’s not true that I picked cotton for free out of love.”

James Baldwin wrote many other books along with different works of art including essays, plays, and poetry. He became well-known for being a social critic and for speaking out about gay and lesbian rights, being an openly gay man himself. Baldwin died in 1987.

1. What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason he or she left America to pursue their work in France?

James Baldwin moved to Paris to pursue his work in France because he wanted to get far enough away from America so he could write about his childhood in Harlem, New York. That's where he published his first book. He once said that, “Once you find yourself in another civilization, you’re forced to examine your own.” He had grown up in poverty and thought it was worth writing about. Go Tell it on the Mountain became a popular book, respected by many.

2. Why France? What did your person find appealing or inspiring about France? How did this show up in their work?

James Baldwin moved to France because he became inspired by Richard Wright who also had moved to France to pursue his writing. His second book, Giovanni's Room, was set in Paris, France.

3. What do you think of your person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?

I think James Baldwin's work is one-of-a-kind. It's also empowering, his talk of liberty and human rights. Reading some of the summaries and passages of books, I found some of them to be interesting and books I may read in the future. James Baldwin was definitely interesting to learn and research about.

4. Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be interested in more of their work? Why or why not?

Yes, I would, to see how things have changed over the years and if maybe some of Baldwin's work affected the racial issues. The way he spoke out about gay and lesbian rights proves that he was a strong-willed man. And to read his opinion about these rights would be interesting.

Kay Boyle: Author of Herself

     Kay Boyle was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 19, 1902 and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Each night, her mother read Wind in the Willows and The Secret Garden to Kay and her sister.  "We felt in some way guilty if we put our pencils down for even a moment in order to stretch our fingers and relax our hands.  If we weren't drawing with care and concern, we knew we should be trying to write stories and poems of our own, or at least letters to Mother's friends who had such fascinating names..."  Boyle said about her and her sisters illustrations.  She traveled everywhere, including to New York once to see artists and sculptors.  Her mother influenced her by educating her in arts such as writing, singing, and painting.  

     From her strong mother, she learned the true values of life,"the search for and affirmation of that which the hand could not touch".  At the age of eighteen, she moved to New York with her sister who worked as a designer for Vogue magazine.  After a disliked job as a secretary to a fashion writer, she took a job filing and typing for an artsy literary magazine.  

     In 1922, she moved to France with Richard Brault her first husband, who was a French exchange student she met in Cincinnati.  Anticipating to be in France for only a few, short months, Kay Boyle ended up staying for eighteen years.  While there, she wrote,"That was a winter of tremendous and determined walking.  In the twelve hours of every weekday that I was alone, I wrote or I walked, and there was not an avenue or alley, a dock or jetty, of Le Havre that I did not know.  I collected stones and driftwood from the beach, that harsh, unforgiving beach where shells could not survive an hour but were ground to sound by the beating of the surf.  I walked, and I wrote poetry, and I began my second novel, the story of the family in Brittany..."

     Still married to Brault, she started a correspondence with poet Earnest Walsh with whom she ultimately fell in love.  Together, they worked on the literary journal,"This Quarter," of which he was editor.  She left her husband to live with Walsh in the South of France and bore him her first child three months after he died of tuberculosis.  She moved to Paris after his death with their daughter, Sharon.  In Paris, she played an important role of the group of writers and artists now known as the Lost Generation.  Boyle urged the facts on why so many Americans moved to Paris and became known was so they could "live cheaply enough to produce their work".  

     In 1932, she married her second husband, Laurence Vail, a painter and soon to be writer, who was formerly married to American heiress, Peggy Guggenheim.  She spend twelve years with Vail, conceived him three daughters (Apple Joan, Clover, and Kathe), and wrote believably her best work. 

     Although during World War 2, her and her family traveled to Lisbon by train.  She met Austrian, Joseph Franckestein and was hired as a tutor for her children.  In 1943, she divorced Laurence Vail, and moved on to her third husband, Franckestein in the same year.  She gave birth to one child, a son.  In the fifties, Kay Boyle's short stories were not profitable because Joseph and her were blacklisted.  He couldn't get a regular job anywhere.  "How many people suffered!  Arthur Miller.  Pete Seeger.  Langston Hughes.  Lillian Hellman...  But neither Joseph, nor I had ever been a member of any party whatsoever, and we didn't have many Communist friends.  The charges were just something that had been completely invented."  They spent the next nine years fighting those charges, where the family resided in Connecticut. 

Her third, and last husband died of lung cancer and in 1963, she had several children to support.  And so, she moved to the West Coast to take a job teaching at San Francisco State University where she taught writing for the next twenty years.  Boyle later became active in the movement against the Vietnam War and was sent to jail twice in 1967 for her activism. 

Awarded two Guggenheim fellowships, she was one of the first women to be inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters, American Academy. She died in Mill Valley in 1993 at the age of ninety. 

"There is only one history of any importance, and it is the history of what you once believed in, and the history of what you came to believe in."

-Kay Boyle

Zelda Fitzgerald: The Unstable Lover

Zelda Fitzgerald (born Zelda Sayre) was born on July 24, 1900 in Montgomery, Alabama. She

was one of 6 brothers and sisters. Zelda was named after a character from "Zelda: A Tale of the Massachusetts Colony".Many say that she was uninterested in school, but was quite smart. She preferred to keep company with boys. Zelda indulged in attention and fancied when all eyes were directed towards her. She liked to dance to the "Charleston" which was popular with African-Americans. She even wore a nude bathing suit to have people think she swam

naked. Most were startled by her rebellious and scandalous ways.

“She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring.” -Zelda, The Collected Writings

Zelda and her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, met at a dance when they were teenagers. While dating him, she proceeded dating other men and having an "open relationship". F. Scott was basically competing with other boys to date Zelda. They eventually committed to each other through marriage in 1920 (the beginning of the "Jazz Age").

“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.” - Zelda

They moved to New York City and were popular with the locals there because of there invigorating behavior and the success of his work This Side of Paradise. They were often drunk and got kicked out of many hotels and other venues (including the Biltmore). Zelda and F. Scott even rode around NYC on top of a taxi while drunk. People were intrigued and wanted to be closer to the young couple.

"People who live entirely by the fertility of their imaginations are fascinating, brilliant and often charming, but they should be sat next to at dinner parties, not lived with." - Scottie Fitzgerald

Zelda wrote several short stories: "The Girl the Prince Liked", "Southern Girl", "A Couple of Nuts", and others. She also wrote many articles and even kept a diary. F. Scott Fitzgerald often used passages from her diary for his "own" work and novels, including "This Side of Paradise". F. Scott usually said that he wrote her work because more money would be put towards "his" work or he would co-author it.

They soon ran out of money and went into a depression and the idea of moving to Paris, France was decided in 1921 (but returned to America for the birth of Scottie and then returned again in 1924). Zelda was very willing to move to Paris because it would allow her to express herself more through her artistic talents and she was able to flee from her mental problems back in the U.S.A. She soon met another man, Edouard Jozan (French aviator). F. Scott became very jealous and upset. Zelda then had a mental breakdown. She cam from a family of mental illness (including some committing suicide and other illnesses). Later on, she was diagnosed with schizophrenic. After doctors demanded that she not dance anymore, Zelda became infatuated with painting and writing. She wrote her one and only novel "Save Me the Waltz" in a mental hospital. She died during a fire in the hospital in 1948. She truly lived the 1920's life; living fast and carefree.

Questions:

1. What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason he or she left America to pursue their work in France?

Zelda Fitzgerald left America because she wanted a fresh start in new territory. She wanted to move to a place with an extravagant art scene. She felt she could be whoever she wanted to be while there. She returned to America to have her child, Scottie. She returned to Paris in 1924 because she and F. Scott were broke and in a depression and felt Paris could mend them back together and have more opportunities for them.

Samples:

“I don’t suppose I really know you very well - but I know you smell like the delicious damp grass that grows near old walls and that your hands are beautiful opening out of your sleeves and that the back of your head is a mossy sheltered cave when there is trouble in the wind and that my cheek just fits the depression in your shoulder.” - Save Me the Waltz, Zelda Fitzgerald

“By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future." - Save Me the Waltz, Zelda Fitzgerald

Questions About the Samples:

3. What do you think of your person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?

I think Zelda was very descriptive. I also think she had deep thoughts and that everything came directly from her soul. I feel she meant what she said and said what she meant in a way that other's may have a difficult time understanding, but you can decipher it with much thought. Her work does appeal to me because it kind of hits you hard and makes you think about love and life. Her work contains a lot of love and I find love to a fascinating thing.

4. Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be interested in more of their work? Why or why not?

I would love to read more of Zelda's work. I find her to be compelling and flamboyant. I enjoy her carefree spirit and the quirkiness of her mental illness. She has deep love in her and is an excellent writer.

T.S Eliot: Genuine Poet

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born on September 26, 1888 in a St. Louis, Missouri. He was born to Henry Ware Eliot, a successful entrepreneur, and Charlotte Champe Stearns, a poet. Of his six surviving siblings, he was the youngest. In 1898 he went to a preparatory school called Smith Academy. He learned Latin, Greek, French, and German.

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood." (T.S)

In 1906, he attended Harvard University and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in 1909. He achieved his Masters degree in 1910, and finally settled down in Paris, studying at the Sorbonne.

"I had seen birth and death but had thought they were different." (T.S)

While there he met Jean Verdenal, a medical student. They both entered a life with intellectuals in France like Émile Durkheim, Paul Janet, Rémy de Gourmont, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Bergson.

"For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting." (T.S)

In Paris, he was given many inspirations for his writing and poetry. The environment gave him the sense of artistic and intellectual discoveries. Some of his best poems were written in Paris.Rhapsody on a Windy Night, A Cooking Egg, The Burial of the Dead, Aunt Helen, and hundreds more.

"Every experience is a paradox in that it means to be absolute, and yet is relative; in that it somehow always goes beyond itself and yet never escapes itself." (T.S)
He put together many collections of his poems including Four Quartets. He was also a playwriter, editor, critic, and publisher.

"I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope, For hope would be hope for the wrong thing."(T.S)
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

LET us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question….
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin? . . . . . . . .
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?…
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. . . . . . . . .
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep … tired … or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;
That is not it, at all.”
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.” . . . . . . . .
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

"If you desire to drain to the dregs the fullest cup of scorn and hatred that a fellow human being can pour out for you, let a young mother hear you call dear baby 'it.'" (T.S)

Questions:

What brought T.S Eliot to France? Any reason he left America to pursue his work in Paris?

T.S Eliot went to France after achieving his Bachelor's degree taking a year off before he went on to get his Master's. Going to Paris, helped his influence in the art of poetry.

Why France? Why was it appealing? How did this show up in his work?

France was booming with people like T.S. Writers and artists alike flocked to Paris for the environment and influence it had on many of them. Lots of great works came from Paris at this time.

What do I think of Eliot's work? Is it appealing?

I think T.S Eliot is a very talented writer. The way he articulates his thoughts into poetry is quite amazing. I have always been fascinated with poetry and the fact that he puts meaning and life experiences into his writing.

Based on what I have found on Eliot, would i be interested in more of his work?

I think I have become more fond of T.S Eliot, now knowing more about him. He seems very interesting and his work is different than other poets.

"In my beginning is my end." (T.S)

Janet Flanner: Literary Pistol

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1892, Janet Flanner was the daughter of a mortician father and a theatre-loving mother. Music and literature were strongly encouraged among the three girls. Janet Flanner would become a renowned journalist, Marie a concert pianist, and Hildegarde an acclaimed poet. After several family trips abroad, Frank Flanner opened the first cremotorium in Indiana, while the girls attended the Tudor Hall School for Girls.

A rather austere looking portrait of Janet in 1922

In 1912, Janet enrolled in the University of Chicago. That same year, her father poisoned himself inside his mortuary. Shocked and devestated, Janet withdrew from the University. Her father's death would go on to influence the character of James Poole, an idealistic but suicidal real-estate agent in her novel, The Cubicle City.

Along came William Rhem. Janet had met William--an artist in who now lived in New York City, while at the University of Chicago. Many years after their marriage in 1918, Janet admitted to being more in love with the idea of leaving Indianopolis than with her husband.

Janet soon discovered that New York, and particularly Greenwich Village, was practically crawling with young, brilliant, and idealistic artists, writers, and musicians. All of them wanted something more than New York.

During this time, Janet met Sarah Wilkinson, a journalist who now preferred to be called Solita Solano. What began as a perfectly normal friendship between two women, soon showed itself to be something different. Janet quickly divorced her husband, took the job at the New Yorker Harold Ross had offered her, and flew away with Solita to France, where her bisexuality would be accepted.

Upon arriving in Paris in 1925, Janet sent her first "Letter From Paris" to the New Yorker. The first subject was the sensual performer Josephine Baker:

Josephine Baker has arrived at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in La Revue Nègre and the result has been unanimous. Paris has never drawn a color line. Covarrubias did the sets, pink drops and cornucopias of ham and watermelons, and the Civil War did the rest, aided by Miss Baker. The music is timeless and stunningly orchestrated, and the end of the show is dull, but never Miss Baker's part. It was even less dull the first night, when she did what used to be, what indeed still should be called, a stomach dance.

The first issue of the New Yorker Janet Flanner's "Letter From Paris" appeared in.


The brisk, yet somehow deliciously detailed style of Janet's writing attracted much attention and admiration from her neighbors living on the Paris Left Bank. Pablo Picasso particularly enjoyed the column (though he never told her this until years later). Janet and Solita frequenting the Les Deux Magots cafe, joining the company of F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Henri Matisse, and Ernest Hemingway. Soon after, Janet's "Letters" became illuminated with the tales of luxurious parties, French politics, and the odd quircks of the literary and artistic geniuses she was so admired by.

Le Deux Magots in its prime.

Perhaps the greatest friend Janet made was Ernest Hemingway, with whom she had a deep personal connection. Hemingway's father, like Janet's, had also committed suicide. The two discussed this at length, ending the conversation with a promise that if they ever copied their fathers' examples, neither would greive. The two remained friends and mentors to one another until Hemingway's suicide in 1961.

Janet with Hemingway at Le Deux Magots, 1948.

In 1926, Janet authored her first and only novel. The Cubicle City was a story of the liberated and freedom-loving Delia Poole, who was living in New York City as a costume designer. The paralells between Delia and Janet were glaring, especially Delia's suicidal father and her small town upbringing. The novel achieved little success, and Janet accepted that fiction was not her forte. She would later tell a reporter, "Writing is my gift. But not writing fiction."

A rare copy of The Cubicle City

The golden literary era of Paris eventually faded. Hemingway moved to Spain and the Fitzgeralds went to Los Angeles. Then World War II began, and Janet quickly relocated back to New York. During the war, Janet continued her column, but also profiled Adolph Hitler in 1936, and contributed to various radio news broadcasts. In 1945, she covered the infamous Nuremburg Trials, which prosecuted suspected members of the Nazi party.


Until her retirement in 1975, Janet Flanner continued to dispatch her "Letters From Paris". Upon returning to Paris in 1948, she was welcomed with open arms, and was later made a knight of Legion d'Honneur. She would later profile the first French President, Charles de Gaulle in 1969. Though she and Solita lived together for almost fifty years, Flanner's final companion was Natalia Murray, who cared for her until her death on November 7th, 1978.


What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason he or she left America to pursue their work in France?


Naturally, Janet Flanner was greatly affected by her father's suicide. But now more than ever, she felt stifled by Indianappolis. Though she enjoyed a breif stint as a cinema critic for the local paper the Indianappolis Star, the job soon fell through. At the end of the day, Janet was still stuck in the town where her family's name was tabboo and her father's suicide was still fresh material for the town gossips. Though she felt largely liberated in New York City, she felt rigid moral and social veiws still infringed on her personal and creative views and her sexuality. The only solution was Paris.


What do you think of your person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?


I love Flanner's unsentimental style of writing. Her dispatches from Paris all read like detailed notes, with special details and hints of the her own sharp personality. It appeals to me most because of the subject, which was so beautifully captured in so little pages. What I like most about Flanner's work from Paris is that she doesn't mince words. She undoubtedly did this because she knew that a lengendary city like Paris would still be Paris even if she used fifty adjectives to describe it, and that it needs no long-winded introduction.


Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be interested in more of their work? Why or why not?


I would love to get my hands on The Cubicle City. The paralells between Janet's life and the story of Deliah Poole really interest me, and I think it clearly shows the affect Janet's upbringing and her father's suicide affected her. Janet's Paris journals, which were from 1948 to the early 1970s, would also be interesting to read, as I'm sure Janet had many observations regarding the social and cultural changes Paris was experiencing at the time.

Thomas Wolfe: Madison McElheney

Thomas Wolfe: Explorer and Novelist

Thomas Wolfe was born October 3 1900 in Asheville, North Carolina. Thomas Wolfe's mother was a teacher, and he grew up spending much of his time in her boarding house growing to be extremely intellegent. He started off at a public school at age 6 and by request of his teachers was asked to move to a privet school at age 11. At age 15 he entered the university of Chapel Hill where he had an awkward experience. Thomas Wolfe was the school newspaper editor and had seen many plays by Carolina play writers by the time he graduated. After Chapel Hill he planned to be a dramatic and play writer and went along to Harvard. After he excelled at Harvard he went to New York where no one would produce his plays because they were so long. While he waited for his chance for one of his play to be discovered he was a college professer at a school in New York. Wolfe took a trip to Europe in 1926 where he gave up play writing and wrote, revise and published the novel Look homeward, Angel: A story of the buried life. Wolfes book inspired him to keep writing and began his travels to Europe to explore topics for his next novel.

Wolfes books were about his experiences in New York, or Asheville and also, Europe. He reminisced on the things he did and the times he had there and turned them into stories. Six years after look homeward, Angel: A story of the buried life, he published a new novel called of time and of the River. This book explained the adventures of the character in New York, Asheville and Europe. In October of 1924 He sailed to Europe as what was one of the 7 trips he took there. On his voyage home from France, Switzerland and Italy he met a woman named Mrs. Aline Bernstein who became his mistress. She was one of the most positive influences in his life and he once again traveled back to Europe to explore and see her. Thomas Wolfe was also inspired by works of French writers such as Betty Smith.

Thomas Wolfe died on September 15, 1939 of tuberculosis of the brain eighteen days before his 38th birthday. Although he had a short life, he filled it with travelling and exploring different ways to make his novels more interesting. He was inspired by many things, places and one special girl in particular. His travels through Europe and France inspired his novels with landscape and scenery he could never include if he had not explored the beautiful places himself.

Questions:

1.)What brought your person to France? Was there a particular reason he or she left America to pursue their work in France.

Thomas Wolfe was inspired by the places he traveled to and experiences he had there. He was also brought back to Europe and France and Italy 7 times not only by travel but by a woman he labeled as his mistress. He left America to continue his work because he was no just a paper and pen novelist but one who had to visually see to write something magnificent. Europe offered the views and experience he needed to put into a book that would capture the attention of its readers.

2.)Why France? What did your person find appealing or inspiring about France? How did this show up in their work.

Thomas Wolfe was inspired by France and Europe as a whole. While he was in the fabulous places he wrote many stories about his own experiences there that became wonderful well known novels. He wrote 4 lengthy novels based on his travels and experiences in amazing places such as France and Europe. He also found inspiration in the people he came in contact with and his mistress who brought him much happiness and positive influence towards his writing. Thomas Wolfe found inspiration in France becauce of his time spent there.

This Sample from Tom Wolfes writing is from A Man in Full.

He wrote this about an experience in France most likey while he was in France. Not only is there influence from a French outlook on this person but also the views of other places he has traveled and observed. Raleigh, Chapel Hill, New York and other places show through in this excerpt.

"The girl swung her hips in an exaggerated arc each time the fiends hit the
BOO of BOOTY. She was gorgeous. Her jeans were down so low on
her hips, and her tube top was up so high on her chest, he could see lots of her
lovely light-caramel-colored flesh, punctuated by her belly button, which looked
like an eager little eye. Her skin was the same light color as his, and he knew
her type at a glance. Despite her funky clothes, she was a blueblood. She had
Black Deb written all over her. Her parents were no doubt the classic Black
Professional Couple of the 1990s, in Charlotte or Raleigh or Washington or
Baltimore. Look at the gold bangles on her wrists; must have cost hundreds of
dollars. Look at the soft waves in her relaxed hair, a 'do known as a Bout
en Train; French, baby, for "life of the party"; cost a fortune; his own
wife had the same thing done to her hair. Little cutie, shaking her booty,
probably went to Howard or maybe Chapel Hill or the University of Virginia;
belonged to Theta Psi. Oh, these black boys and girls came to Atlanta from
colleges all over the place for Freaknic every April, at spring break, thousands
of them, and here they were on Piedmont Avenue, in the heart of the northern
third of Atlanta, the white third, flooding the streets, the parks, the malls,
taking over Midtown and Downtown and the commercial strips of Buckhead, tying up
traffic, even on Highways 75 and 85, baying at the moon, which turns chocolate
during Freaknic, freaking out White Atlanta, scaring them indoors, where they
cower for three days, giving them a snootful of the future."

3.) What do you think of your person's work? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?

I think that Thomas Wolfes work is mostly geared towards adults and an older crowd. Some of his work has cursing and explicit topics but they are all about real life and interesting events. His novels are real they do appeal to me in some ways. Some things I have read by him have made me want to read the rest of the book and some I found a bit too old for me.

"He went in the mean little kitchen and turned on the light. A cockroach was
sitting on the rim of a dirty frying pan on the stove. Well, the hell with it.
He made Maria her vodka-and-orange juice and then poured himself an Old
Fashioned glass full of scotch and put in some ice and a little water. He sat in
one of the bentwood chairs across the table from her. He found that he wanted
the drink very badly. He longed for each ice-cold burning jolt in his stomach.
The car fishtailed. Thok. The tall delicate one wasn't standing there
any longer."

Clips such as these are indeed for an older audience but also fill me with suspense and make me want to read more about whats going on in the story. His writings are also very descriptive and detailed making the story feel real and help you imagine yourself in the situation the characters are in.

4.)Based on what you know about the person and the samples you've found, would you be intersted in more of their work? Why or why not?

Based on what I know about Thomas Wolfes writing and travels I would be very interested in reading more about his experiences in North Carolina and especailly France and New York, two places I would love to go. Even from the samples I have read I know I would be intersted in more of his work.