Decoding new meanings – Language Experiment in Paris France

      Coming into contact for the first time with Gertrude Stein’s work will likely leave the inattentive reader feeling confused and disoriented.  The experience is that of being transported into an alternate reality where the world is recognizable but where things work somehow differently.  The inability to figure out the dynamics of this new reality and failure to decode the seemingly queer elements will doom the reader to wonder aimlessly unable to connect with this new location.   

     One of the elements that contribute to the complex literary style present in Stein’s work is the decontextualization of words.  Stein experiments with words by taking them out of familiar settings and placing them within new associations.  As a result of this experiment, words are reclaimed and infused with new meanings.  This process is actually reminiscent of semiotics, the study of language as signs, pioneered by Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure.  For Saussure, language is an arbitrary system composed of a series of signs. These signs are in turn the result of the association between the signifier, which is the form of the sign; and the signified, the concept it represents. (Saussure 67) For Saussure, both the signifier and the signified are purely 'psychological' (14 -15, 66) and therefore, the meaning they convey cannot be tied to an absolute truth or reality.

     This frame of thought is helpful when trying to make sense of the project behind the peculiar writing style of Paris France. This reference does not imply, however, that Stein’s inspiration was originated in semiotics or even in linguistics for that matter. Stein was quite the language revolutionary by her own merit. In her plethora of lectures, the American writer shows a sweeping contempt for grammar conventions.  For example, her feeling about commas was that, “at the most a comma is a poor period that lets you stop and take a breath but if you want to take a breath you ought to know yourself that you want to take a breath." (Poetry and Grammar 221) This contempt is perhaps, more beautifully stated, in the following excerpt:

            “...capital letters and quotations marks are useless. They are hangovers from the days when people didn't read very well, that all goes into the question of life and death of punctuation marks, if you don't know a question without a question mark what is the use of writing the question? ...the average reading mind does not need them. (Watts 94)

                                                          

     Relocating this discussion to the realm of Paris France, I would like to bring attention to a quote from this text that might shine some lightning into Stein’s inquisitive approach towards language.  The quote is in a passage that refers to the English studies of French girls and how they choose Hamlet for their translation assignments.  The narrator speculates that the reason behind this choice is that a great number of archaic English words found in said text are “completely French words” (74-75) and follows with the insight that: “I have often thought a lot about the words that make the English language, and much as I have thought about it, a war makes it even more definite, as in this Hamlet.” (75) 

     I consider this quote to be an acknowledgment on Stein’s part of her profound interest in the way words work within a language system.  She also seems to be implying that no matter how much she or anyone thinks about the meaning of words, random events such as a war or other historical factors end up creating or transferring terms across languages in arbitrary and sometimes even spontaneous occurrences. The anecdote of the French girls illustrates that the arbitrary nature is not only inherent to the form of the sign but also of the concept it represents.  For the French girls, a set of archaic words has great significance in their study of the English language while those same signs seem to be completely irrelevant to others given the fact that these are terms that, “the English language to-day no longer uses.” (75)  

     Both the fluidity and randomness of the signified provide Stein with a sort of elastic clay that can be manipulated, shaped, deconstructed, and reconstructed to give form to her language project.  Sara J. Ford explains that Stein juxtaposes words in a way that removes them from their usual context or order and places them within new relationships and associations. (50)  Linda Wagner-Martin complements this idea and points out that Stein “[lets] language find its own patterns, to express whatever meaning the reader might favor, viewing written art as a system of true and mutable communication.” (Oxford University Press) This fluidity of patterns allows Stein to experiment with words, peeling off ordinary and stale meanings to infuse them with new and more interesting ones. 

Note: This is an extract of a paper that I wrote for a class called The 20th Century International Novel. If you are interested in acquiring this essay, you can contact me at   www.adamslanguagesolutions.com

References

     Ford, Sara J. Gertrude Stein and Wallace Stevens: The Performance of Modern Consciousness. Routledge, 2011.

     New World Encyclopedia. “Art for art's sake.” http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org

     Oxford Dictionaries. “Fashion.” http://www.oxforddictionaries.com

     Saussure, Ferdinand de. Course in General Linguistics (trans. Roy Harris) London: Duckworth, ([1916] 1983)

     Stein, Gertrude. Paris France. Liveright, 1996.

     Stein, Gertrude. “Poetry and Grammar,” in Lectures in America. New York: Random House, 1935. 

     Wagner-Martin, Linda.  “Stein's Life and Career” from The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. Oxford University Press, 1995.

     Watts, Linda S. Gertrude Stein: a study of the short fiction. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1999. http://www.english.illinois.edu