The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Study Guide

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Plot Summary

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Before I Came to Paris

At three pages, this is the shortest chapter in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. Stein inhabits the persona and speech patterns of Toklas throughout the book. The perceptions of other characters and the recounting of events, however, belong to both Stein and Toklas. For continuity, the narrator of the book will be referred to as Toklas.

Toklas introduces herself and provides some details about her life, mentioning, importantly, that her life changed after the San Francisco earthquake, and she met Gertrude Stein. Saying that she has only met three geniuses in her life, Toklas writes, "The three geniuses of whom I wish to speak are Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, and Alfred Whitehead."

My Arrival in Paris

In this chapter, Toklas notes that Stein's book, Three Lives, is about to be published and that the writer is deep into writing the history of her family's life, ,em>The Americans,/em>. Toklas describes the house...
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