What Are Masterpieces.
Stein, Gertrude. What Are Masterpieces. (Los Angeles: The Conference Press, 1940).
8vo.; turquoise cloth; stamped in red; dampstaining to top and bottom edges; light blue dust-jacket printed in red and black; advertisement for William Saroyan’s Three Times Three, published by the Conference Press in the same year, on the rear panel.
First edition, with a lengthy introduction entitled, “Another Garland for Gertrude Stein” by Robert Bartlett Haas, who wrote several books on Stein and edited two volumes of her unpublished works. Wilson A35a. Rear jacket flap contains quotations from fellow writers such as Thornton Wilder, Louis Bromfield, and Bernard Fay, all praising Stein for her contributions to literary theory and willingness to explain it thoroughly in What Are Masterpieces. Like Lectures in America, What Are Masterpieces is a self-reflective collection of pieces in which Stein ruminates on her own style and the philosophy behind her experimental techniques. Analyzing her own lectures and poetry, Stein breaks down her definition of a “masterpiece” and what art must do to achieve that coveted title. She concludes that while masterpieces must be cognizant of their historical context and place within a tradition, writers of masterpieces are paradoxically liberated from that obligation and can devote themselves to aesthetics and form, since writing is itself an expression of freedom.
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