Gertrude Stein's Influence on the Lost Generation - Essay Example

 Gertrude Stein’s Influence on the Lost Generation In the book ‘A Moveable Feast’, Earnest Hemingway has shed light upon numerous figures from the 1920s era including; Ford Maddox Ford, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. The book includes Hemingway’s personal accounts of his interaction with his peers from the Lost Generation expatriates circle of writers and artists. He provides an extensive account of his time in Paris and the people he was influenced by and the people who led him towards the path of literary creation. For some critics, Hemingway’s accounts of that era are self-centric and he has presented a deteriorated picture of his peers while for others, ‘A Moveable Feast’ is a classic piece of literary writing. Of all the well known figures that have been written about in the book, one figure looms significantly throughout the book and that is of Gertrude Stein. This is because Gertrude Stein was a great mentor to Earnest Hemingway and according to him she was a unique innovator in literature. There are numerous instances in the book where Hemingway has mentioned Stein. He has provided extensive accounts of his and her wife’s visits to Stein and the conversations he had with her. The character of Gertrude Stein has been sketched very prominently throughout the book. From Hemingway’s perspective, Stein had a significant influence over the people around her and she enjoyed this power that she projected. Even though her character has been presented as self-satisfied and self-serving due to her continuous criticism, Hemingway presents her in a likeable manner in the book. The following paper would analyze the character of Gertrude Stein as presented by Hemingway and the overall influence of Stein on the ‘lost generation’. The term ‘lost generation’ was initially popularized by Earnest Hemingway in his novel The Sun Also Rises and the credit for the phrase was given to Gertrude Stein and it was expressed that she is Hemingway’s mentor and patron. The further details regarding the phrase and the character of Gertrude Stein were presented in the Hemingway’s memoirs pertaining to the 1920s era. It was disclosed in ‘A Moveable Feast’ that the term was originated by a garage owner who attributed the term ‘lost generation’ to the young people who served in the World War I. In the 1920s, Hemingway moved to Paris working as a foreign correspondent and within a short span of time became a part of the expatriate community of writers and artists. Gertrude Stein has been portrayed as a powerful person who acts as a mentor to young striving writers. She is the one who advised Hemingway to make a move from journalism towards fiction. It was her support and encouragement that led Hemingway towards success (Tanner). In the chapter “Miss Stein Instructs”, Hemingway writes, “I did not agree at all with her but it was a point of view and I did not believe in arguing with my elders. I would much rather hear them talk and many of the things that Gertrude said were very intelligent. She told me that sooner or later 1 must give up journalism and I could not have agreed with her more.” (Hemingway, 25) Even though Hemingway respected Stein’s perspective, he continuously shielded himself and his peers from the ‘lost generation talk’ that Stein was a fond of. She continuously condemned the postwar American writers and this was considered to be unfair by Hemingway. From his perspective, it was the work of the young writers that characterized the literary offerings of Hemingway’s generation (Pollack-Pelzner). It can also be interpreted as Hemingway shielded his own work from the criticism and said that it was his work that characterized the literary offerings of his generation (Tomkins). In other parts of ‘A Moveable Feast’, Hemingway has expressed the continuous insistence of Stein that he avoids writing on any subject that is socially unacceptable. Even though Hemingway initially considered such constraints as self-censorship but ultimately he realized that Stein was right in keeping him from diverting to that path. Hemingway realized that he was capable of creating something artistically superior without diving into socially unacceptable subjects. Thus, Stein’s influence kept Hemingway from creating any work that could have affected his career as a writer. Even though Hemingway was unable to convince Stein in changing her perspective regarding the lost generation, he ultimately took the position that even thought his generation may be lost, he was an exception. Earnest Hemingway’s endeavors to rebound from Stein’s perception of lost generation became the foundation of his prominence in the literary circle. Hemingway tried to counter the perspective of Stein initially through a novella called ‘The Torrents of Sprint’ and then in more detail in the novel called ‘The Sun Also Rises’ which, as mentioned earlier, gave popularity to the term ‘lost generation’. Both the works deal with youthful empowerment and in other words, Hemingway took possession of the artistic liberation notwithstanding the criticism. Hemingway situated the theme of loss in his first full length novel and this gave him recognition, making the theme of loss the foundation of Hemingway’s literary work. It was not only Hemingway who benefitted from Stein’s influence but other young writers who were a part of the Lost Generation of expatriates also benefitted from Stein’s ideas and support. In ‘A Moveable Feast’, even though Hemingway has presented Stein as a mentor and an influential figure, he has also portrayed her as a domineering, self-righteous and critical person. At one point in the book, he has stated that Stein criticized those writers more who did not admire Stein’s possessions or her work. Hemingway has not missed to mention that Gertrude Stein was a great help in pushing him towards writing and she was a great coach to him and to others like him, but still she has been characterized as an overly critical person. Stein heavily criticized the ‘lost generation’, calling them criminals who drive everyone around them to a lifestyle of drugs and drinking. She also declared numerous other writers as vicious and corrupters. It can be said that it was the heavy criticism of Gertrude Stein that led Hemingway and other writers towards influential writing. Every person possesses a unique style of influencing others and Stein’s style of influencing was through criticism. In a series of chapters in the book, Hemingway describes Stein as a person who continuously criticizes the intelligence of Hemingway and his peers and Hemingway discloses that she had a condescending nature and a perceived superiority over others in her surroundings. However, ultimately Hemingway realizes that Gertrude Stein is a likeable person which only one problem of talking highly critically. Hemingway respects Gertrude Stein as a mentor and as a successful writer but he finally acclimatizes himself with her highly critical nature and her overbearing beliefs. Thus, it can be inferred from the discussion that Earnest Hemingway’s ‘A Moveable Feast’ provides extensive account of his time in Paris in the 1920s era and of his interaction with other writers from the lost generation expatriates community. The influence of Gertrude Stein has been explained heavily throughout the book and her character has been described in great detail. From the presentation of her character by Hemingway in his book and from the overall research conducted regarding Stein, it can be concluded that even though Gertrude Stein had a highly critical nature, she had a significant influence over the writer of the lost generation. It was Stein who led Hemingway towards fiction writing. Her teachings were concealed in her criticism. Works Cited Hemingway, Earnest. A Moveable Feast. Restored Edition. Simon and Schuster, 2009. Print. Pollack-Pelzner, Daniel. "Swiping Stein: The Ambivalence of Hemingway Parodies." The Hemingway Review 30.1 (2010): 69,82,5. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 13 May 2012. Tanner, Stephen L. "Hemingways Trout Fishing in Paris: A Metaphor for the Uses of Writing." The Hemingway Review 19.1 (1999): 79-91. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 13 May 2012. Tomkins, David. "The "Lost Generation" and the Generation of Loss: Ernest Hemingways Materiality of Absence and the Sun also Rises." Modern Fiction Studies 54.4 (2008): 744,765,950. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 13 May 2012. Read More