"Can a Jew be wild?" asked Gertrude Stein, the rebellious and influential Jewish-American writer.
Catharine Stimpson quoted Stein's writing in the opening of Tuesday's lecture, which focused on the importance of Judaism and faith in Stein's life. The lecture, given before a crowd of about 150, was included among the ongoing series of presentations at Boston College this semester regarding Jewish women and their salons.
"The fact that Stein was Jewish matters a lot; more than is revealed in her works; more than some students of Stein may realize," said Stimpson, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at New York University.
Stein was born in 1874 in Allegheny, Pa. to a German-Jewish family, and was raised in Oakland, Calif.. "[Stein's] American background made her independent, aware of vast spaces, and confident in being unconventional," said Stimpson.
Stein moved to Paris in 1903, where she met and formed a lesbian relationship with another Jewish-American, Alice B. Toklas. Stein wrote steadily and eventually produced over 600 works in many forms, from poetry to operatic theater. She later died in 1946.
Stein believed in a realm beyond what is able to be seen, which no religion can contain, Stimpson said. Her views, according to Stimpson, were not characteristically Jewish, as she was "a woman of faith rather than of religion."
Stimpson also explained that there is little that is explicitly Jewish in Stein's writing, as much of her faith had nothing to do with religion. "Stein possessed faith in being an American, faith in her writing, and faith in her notion of genius," she said.
The importance of Judaism in Stein's life is evident in three patterns of writing, Stimpson said. Stein wrote "openly and acceptingly" about Toklas and her Judaism in the face of the Catholicism that surrounded them. She also made many inexplicit literary allusions to Jewish culture and traditions. Third, "she explored her Jewish identity as inseparable from her other identities," such as being an American or being a lesbian.
"If we think of Stein's life as an alphabet, her Jewish identity would be a letter X," preceded in importance by her identities as an American, a writer worthy of remembrance, and as a lesbian. "An X represents mystery and absence ... her Jewish identity is still a mystery to us, and was sometimes a thing she chose to erase from her life."
The speaker described Stein as an "unconventional, brilliant, and primarily secular Jewish-American writer," as Stein did not allow her Jewish background to promote religious devotion. Her Jewish identity helped her become "one of the great defenders of America and American democracy."
Stimpson was the founding editor of the journal Signs. Stein is the subject of her current book, and she has been recognized as one of the foremost scholars of Stein's life and work. The lecture was hosted in conjunction with an on-campus exhibit in the McMullen Museum of Art titled The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons.
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