Born on February 3, 1874, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Gertrude Stein was the youngest child of upper-middle-class, Jewish-American parents. After her birth, the family traveled in Europe for several years before settling in Oakland, California. Stein was very close to her brother, Leo. The two remained virtually inseparable for several decades. When Leo went to Harvard in 1892, Stein enrolled in the all-female Harvard annex—soon to become Radcliffe College—the following year. Radcliffe, and especially psychology professor William James, became a shaping force in her intellectual development. Many of James's teachings, including his theories of perception and personality types, shaped her own aesthetic theories. With James's encouragement, Stein decided to become a psychologist. After finishing her bachelor's degree in 1897, she began her training in the medical program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1901, however, she left without completing her degree.

Reading—particularly literary classics&mdash...