What are Masterpieces by Gertrude Stein (Art Essay) pdf

Pdf / English / Pittman Publishing / 1940 / 104 pages / 7 MB

Convoluted sentences. Erratic punctuation. Miss Stein’s idea about masterpieces is almost like TS Eliot's effacement of the author's personality in creating a work of poetry. Stein says if you remember you are you, you cannot create a masterpiece. You are limited by your personality and identity. If you efface your identity, you can create a masterpiece. Automatic writing? Sensible ideas are occasionally thrown into what appears to be a random collection of thoughts in stream of consciousness. But the piece is well organized. She moves from defining a masterpiece to explaining why there are so few masterpieces--most writers remember themselves and their identities and therefore cannot produce anything truly original. I guess.

Quote: “And that is what a masterpiece is not—it may be unwelcome but it is never dull.”