Francesca Wade on Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, the Avant-Garde, and Alice B. Toklas

On this episode, we were joined by Francesca Wade to discuss her groundbreaking new biography, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife.

This book paints a dual portrait of Gertrude Stein by dividing her story into two parts: her life and her afterlife. Doing this not only brings her partner, Alice B. Toklas, into clearer view, but also separates Stein’s work and its lasting impact from her larger-than-life personality.

Francesca takes us behind the scenes of her exhaustive research—from exploring the Yale archives, which hold over 75 years of manuscripts, personal letters, and photographs, to visiting the French countryside where Stein and Toklas lived during the German occupation.

We also discuss how Toklas, left behind after Stein’s death, devoted herself to preserving Stein’s legacy, even as she struggled with legal battles and near-poverty while living surrounded by Picassos she couldn’t bring herself to sell.

Hosted by Ryan Edgington and Olivia Robinson.