Gertrude Stein's surrealist years /

Gertrude Stein (1874--1946) is not known as a surrealist, but she was closely involved with people associated with the movement, among them Picasso and André Breton. Shin (Univ. of Southern Mississippi) examines Stein's involvement with these artists and writers and shows how these relationships drew her and her writing into the movement, especially in her novels Ida and Mrs. Reynolds. Stein was in Paris during WW I and WW II; the latter period was especially difficult for her not only as a Jew but also because she was associated with a Nazi during the German occupation. Shin examines this aspect of Stein's life carefully in the context of her survival when so many were removed from France to concentration camps, tracing in particular her consistently anti-authoritarian attitudes. A strength of this volume is Shin's through examination of relevant scholarship. Chapters titled "Contexts" and "Ruskin's Ghost" provide an overview of surrealism as it affected Stein, and they will be valuable not only for Stein specialists but also for those interested in the period more broadly. Written in clear and accessible prose, this volume examines Stein's writing during a time of her life marked by complexity and ambivalence. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Thomas Bonner, emeritus, Xavier University of Louisiana