Thursday, February 25, 2010

Objects

As a writer, I found Objects by Gertrude Stein somewhat difficult to get through. It is a common practice to take an object and dissect it, analyzing its physical aspects as well as its metaphysical or metaphorical meaning to the speaker. However, Stein's descriptions of such every day objects as pillows and coins were extremely dense and somewhat difficult to decipher. True, it is affective to have beautiful and lyrical language, but in this sense, Stein twists her words to an almost incompressible means of conveying her ideas. For example, in the section A PIECE OF COFFEE, she states "A single image is not splendor. Dirty is yellow. A sign of more in not mentioned. A piece of coffee is not a detainer. The resemblance to yellow is dirtier and distincter. The clean mixture is whiter and not coal color, never more coal color than altogether. " Honestly, I found it difficult to completely understand what she was attempting to get across to the reader. It feels more abstract than concrete, too abstract in fact.

1 comment:

  1. I hear you on this one. The section entitled "A Piece of Coffee" was a strange enough image to create in my brain. I think once you get over trying to understand it, and just read it, it makes her work a lot easier to get through.

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