Review

“The True Story of Alice B. Toklas is a deconstructive excursus, theoretically astute and cannily playful, that juxtaposes three autobiographical texts by and about Toklas, including her famous cookbook and Stein's "autobiography" of her partner. In this study, Anna Linzie has addressed and finessed some tenets of literary scholarship, including generic hierarchies, singular versus collaborative authorship, assumptions of value, decorums between critic and her subject, and critical reception as a mode of invention. With this fascinating addition to the literature concerning Gertrude Stein and her circle, Linzie produces various challenges to the notions of 'true story.'”---Rachel Blau DuPlessis, author of Drafts and Blue Studios: Poetry and Its Cultural Work

“Just as Stein confounds traditional genre expectations of truth, authenticity, authorship, and origins in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, so Anna Linzie unsettles readings that invoke traditional genre expectations in their assessment of Toklas's autobiographical works. In Linzie's account, Toklas's form of textual agency includes absence and silence about her own life, while highlighting aspects of Stein's life that Toklas helped to shape and promote. This work is of interest to anyone who studies Stein, autobiography, or feminist/gender theory.”---Deborah Barker, associate professor of English, University of Mississippi

About the Author

Anna Linzie is a writer, literary scholar, and translator living and working in Sweden.