Gertrude Stein reads If I Had Told Him a Completed Portrait of Picasso

[MrMaldoror666]

She was an asshole but the poetry is fascinating

[randycramerart]

We talked about her in my poetry class today and I fell in love.

[lonelygnome1]

Gertrude Stein was a completely talentless hack that fooled people into thinking she was a literary goddess. And this "poem" is a perfect example of that.

[ForSunny2]

@lonelygnome1 LOL.... aww

[lonelygnome1]

@ForSunny2 I was wondering when I was going to get a snooty reply to the comment I made on this vid. The wait is over.

[ForSunny2]

@lonelygnome1 well good or something. your comment made me laugh. i would like to see more playful originality and creativity than less, so i am less inclined to be as harsh.... there is some line between humor and intelligence and what might appear to be pretentiousness... clearly she struck a chord with some. it's like food, everyone's taste is highly personal.

[lonelygnome1]

@ForSunny2 Yeah, well everybody likes pizza. Show me one person who doesn't like pizza. It's cheesy, it's saucy.. It's delicious!

[ForSunny2]

@lonelygnome1 also, for some context, Stein was good friends with Picasso. She helped boost his career by first purchasing his paintings and then showcasing his work at her Saturday Salons, where she encouraged other writers and artists to support the artist. He painted a now famous portrait of her in the early 1900's which you can see at the Metropoltan Museum of Art.

[69MetalDrummer]

THis fuckinn psycho mother fuck whore waht the fuck is this weird fucking insanity bullshit, this deserves instant Gas Chamberification!!! NOW

[Number1ricky]

At a time where life had become confusing and disjointed: wars and loss, and when it had become repetitive and unfulfilling: Fordism and assembly lines... At this time did Gertrude Stein write in a fashion that is confusing, disjointed, repetitive and unfulfilling. Every time you expect her to finish a sentence or a thought, it becomes repeated and more difficult to accept with the rest of that already spoken. If you listen, with open ears, you will experience the poem as she meant you to.

[jarymay]

@Number1ricky Interesting, but I might point out that repetition implies insistence to Stein, not syntactical redundancy or self-reflexive stumbling. "Lectures in America" does a good job in unpacking Stein's meaning behind her dialect. I found it helpful anyway. It's nice to run into a thoughtful comment for a change. =)

[Number1ricky]

@jarymay Thanks, it's nice that somebody noticed ;) I'm studying poetry at UC Davis right now. I'll have to look into that idea of insistence and that book. It's interesting because I mostly was taught to look at Stein for her formal structure and less for what exactly she means. It's actually a difficult thing to get used to, but once you do, you will start looking at all poems for their form and style and relate those two things to what they do and how you react to them.

[jarymay]

@Number1ricky Well, it seems to me that 'meaning' for stein is loosely relegated to the formal structure itself. It is difficult to look at her work from a point of view that emphasizes symbolic intuition, I would agree: consider her notion of creating meaning in literature using cubist processes, "I tried to convey the idea that each part of a composition being as important as the whole" ("Transatlantic Interview"). Her stuff gets way better when you read her peripheral guff.

[Number1ricky]

@jarymay What do you mean by symbolic intuition? And yes, Cubism was all about flattening the landscape and not hiding a painting as a painting. A still life tried to make a painting of fruit appear three dimensional. Cubism said no, it's two dimensional and here's the proof. I feel like when we look at Stein we see her trying to show what words are and what they do less than trying to convey a certain point.

[Number1ricky]

@Number1ricky Also I want to mention that what Stein was trying to do or say is sorta less important that what her work actually does. Don't you agree? :)

[jarymay]

@Number1ricky Often, when looking at a poem, the reflex is to associate the poet's use of phrase (enjambed or fluid), individual words or specialized punctuation to a deterministic feeling, or telos. With Stein, conventional means of interpretation are less available because she deconstructs the space between language and significance. Associations between words and 'meaning' become slippery and as a result, it is better to look at general relationships between tone and structure.

[Number1ricky]

@jarymay Now you're talking :) that sounds pretty darn accurate to me. That comment is truly is a testament to her great writing.

[jarymay]

@Number1ricky Yes! I have certainly grown to enjoy her work. It was a struggle at first to say the least, but as soon as I began reading her poetics her poetry opened up for me.

[Number1ricky]

@jarymay I'm definitely gonna check out lectures in America. Any other recommendations? About Stein or others? I'm also big on Ginsberg. But there's too many books about him :P

[jarymay]

@Number1ricky As far as modernists go, my favourites are Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore and George Oppen. You should check out ”Of Being Numerous" by Oppen if you like Stein's version of subjectivity. Steven's wrote a lecture entitled "The Noble Rider and the Sound of Words" that might be of interest as well. I haven't spent much time with Beat poetry, but I have glanced at some of Robert Duncan's work and he's an interesting read. Hope that is helpful.

[20jman20]

2:46 Ass trains ass trains ass trains



[000DNJ]

What? Why? How? Who?

[juliolazzagonzalez]

....Ahora.

Ahora no.

Y ahora.

Ahora.

Tal y como como reyes.

Sensación de llenura por ello.

Exactitud como reyes.

Así que os ruego que lo más completa para él.

Exactamente o como reyes. ...Gertrude Stein

[JubalCalif]

Heavens to Murgatroid! Have never been a fan of Stein's writing. But she certainly led a fasciating life and it's cool to be able to hear her voice. THANKS for posting!

[2tuque2]

sounds some ghetto spoken word rappin' lawdy mama!! right on! love this! Thx!

[Twilitparadox]

Is this a Pantoum? Certainly ressembles one, though i have never read one that goes in as many circles as this one.

[Neopersonageguy]

@Twilitparadox I doubt it, she didn't like using specific forms

[dffiske]

You gotta see: The Steins Collect... An exhibit at the SFMOMa now, I dunno where else... Gertie and Alice INVENTED the modern world. Gertie was one of the first patrons of Matisse, of Picasso. She promoted their stuff Big Time. She gave them their start.

Think about that.

Her brother lived in a house by Le Courbousier.

Do you know how many people live in a house by Le Courbousier and don't know it?

You may be savvy enuf to kno.

...and here, she's inventing RAP!

YIKES!

-d

[422brooke]

Rap it!

[keepcalmycarryon]

Now this bitch could write.

[Marceki111]

"Would he like it if I told him" ---> if she told him if Napoleon WHAT?

[unclealand]

Funnier even more than as if anyone were more funny, as even funnier than anyone. Many thanks with goulashes and trays, trays and thanks with goulashes.

[And I am not being sarcastic, either.]

[Marceki111]

@unclealand You're not being sarcastic and sarcastic as can be sarcastic as as sarcatic can be be be be so because because feeling full for it so do I feel full for it. Feeling full, full, full for it. Took. Take. Taken. Have taken. Do. Did. Done. Have done. Having have having done ( ....)

[unclealand]

@Marceki111  EXACTLY!

[mariaperiwinkle]

this is hilarious! <3

[roselaroselita]

love thisssssssssssssssssssssssssss­ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss­ss

[maloneyreba]

It is so lovely to hear the voice of Gertrude Stein and how difficult it is to read her poem, but she does it so well.

[heyboy08]

Amazing

[nomadseawolf]

Explain what I'm missing?

[letsif]

Music

[steinber]

Stein gets the mind high!

[eleanorinitmann]

repetition, the poet's master tool

[eleanorinitmann]

@eleanorinitmann not like a stuck record or anyfin

[jamesaellis]

WORDS