THE BOOK
..........................- TENDER
BUTTONS
THE SUBBOOK ...................- FOOD
THE SUBPOEM
...................- Mutton
WORD COUNT (Total)……...- 534
STANZA(S)............................- 13
—Stanzas 7-13
THE
LEADER........................- THE STEINY ROAD POET
CO-LLABORATORS.............- MODPO
STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS
The second half of “Mutton.” does not seem to elicit much of Gertrude
Stein’s biography except in stanza 7 a wider lens on the sadness she
experienced at the end of her medical studies when she was dumped and duped by
May Bookstaver. Generally speaking, stanzas 7 through 13 seem to rise to
mythology—the Jewish creation myth—but then back into an American myth about
George Washington as a youth chopping down his father’s cherry tree.
Here are
“Mutton.” stanzas 7 through 13 with a 367-word count. Among the topics
addressed in this post are: Gertrude Stein as hunter picks through the shards of her failed medical career; creation myths, including the golem and Pandora; food taboos and
Melting
and not minding, safety and powder, a particular recollection and a sincere
solitude all this makes shunning so thorough and so unrepeated and surely if
there is anything left it is a bone. It is not solitary.
Any space
is not quiet it is so likely to be shiny. Darkness very dark darkness is
sectional. There is a way to see in onion and surely very surely rhubarb and a
tomatoe, surely very surely there is that seeding. A little thing in is a
little thing.
Mud and
water were not present and not any more of either. Silk and stockings were not
present and not any more of either. A receptacle and a symbol and no monster
were present and no more. This made a piece show and was it a kindness, it can
be asked was it a kindness to have it warmer, was it a kindness and does
gliding mean more. Does it.
Does it
dirty a ceiling. It does not. Is it dainty, it is if prices are sweet. Is it
lamentable, it is not if there is no undertaker. Is it curious, it is not when
there is youth. All this makes a line, it even makes no more. All this makes
cherries. The reason that there is a suggestion in variety is due to this that
there is a burst of mixed music.
A
temptation any temptation is an exclamation if there are misdeeds and little
bones. It is not astonishing that bones mingle as they vary not at all and in
any case why is a bone outstanding, it is so because the circumstance that does
not make a cake and character is so easily churned and cherished.
Mouse and
mountain and a quiver, a quaint statue and pain in an exterior and silence more
silence louder shows salmon a mischief intender. A cake, a real salve made of
mutton and liquor, a specially retained rinsing and an established cork and
blazing, this which resignation influences and restrains, restrains more
altogether. A sign is the specimen spoken.
A meal in
mutton, mutton, why is lamb cheaper, it is cheaper because so little is more.
Lecture, lecture and repeat instruction.
“I
see again Gertrude Stein's reaching back to origination, the source of
creativity and nourishment, illumination, the tiny glowing seed that will
become a tree of wisdom and light.” Mary Armour
AFTER
HUNTING FOR THE BIG GAME, LEFT WITH A BONE
Starting at
stanza 7, Karren Alenier said:
Melting and
not minding, safety and powder, a particular recollection and a sincere
solitude all this makes shunning so thorough and so unrepeated and surely if
there is anything left it is a bone. It is not solitary.
“The scene
set by the words of this stanza (safety, powder) makes me think of hunting
which is often done as a solitary sport where the hunter goes into a blind to
wait for the prey.
“There in
that absolute solitude from people. One has time to recollect. If Gertrude
Stein is the hunter, she may be reflecting on her failed medical career, a
failing that might have made certain people she knew shun her.
“Maybe that
solitary bone refers to ‘a bone to pick’—does Stein have a beef with someone? Maybe
there is more than one bone to pick and that's why she says ‘It is not
solitary.’”
Peter Treanor answered,
“Yes,
Karren, I can see the safety, powder and solitude having to do with
hunting and maybe it’s not solitary as the prey or the thought of the prey is
ever present. And maybe melting is melting into the environment, becoming
camouflaged, and melting into the moment, not minding, not thinking, just
being.
“But when I
read it, it seemed to have a really sad, mournful tone. A sense of melting, of
loosing of self. A particular recollection, a memory of serious/sincere
solitude and loneliness and of being shunned. She was stripped to the bone by
this experience, unsure if there was anything left of her by this experience. Could it be
her rejection by May that she is recalling? The bone to pick could be with
May.”
Alenier added:
“I agree,
Pete, about the mournful tone & how the melting might go to just being as opposed to doing.
“This
hunting around for survival calls up the white hunter in Objects!”
A white
hunter is nearly crazy.
THE SEEDS OF
KABALLAH
Stanza 8 is
clearly connected to the earth in a way that comments on our existence. Here’s
what Alenier had to say:
Any space
is not quiet it is so likely to be shiny. Darkness very dark darkness is
sectional. There is a way to see in onion and surely very surely rhubarb and a
tomatoe, surely very surely there is that seeding. A little thing in is a
little thing.
“Perhaps,
Stein is reaching into the myths
of Kabbalah here and one of the clues might be the medieval spelling of
tomato with an 'e' on the end.
“Also I'm
remembering that commentary on Jewish laws including the food laws are
contained in Mishnah. This link
might be useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeraim”
Here Steiny
will interrupt to say that seeds and a little thing are important to Stein
and point to her creations/babies (books) that Alice will midwife (by typing
and packaging them).
Off on a tangent but calling
this a news flash, Alenier went
deeper into the Mishnah to look at Bikkurim, the first fruits where she
discovers related to a group of gender diverse people:
“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikkurim_(Talmud) I'm looking at this webpage which talks about what you
do with the first fruits from your garden.”
Bikkurim (Hebrew: ביכורים, lit. "First-fruits") is the
eleventh tractate of Seder Zeraim ("Order of Seeds") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud.
“The fourth
chapter [of Bikkurim}, which is only sometimes included, originates from
the Tosefta Bikkurim. It
compares the laws relating to men, women, and those of intermediate sex, including the tumtum (one with no
genitalia) and the androgynos.
“Big
gender discussion here! Surely Stein knew about this.”
FOOD
TABOOS & NOURISHMENT
Always an
able interpreter of Stein, Mary Armour
offered:
“I do think
we are touching on food taboos, on forbidden pleasures, on the right and proper
and improper uses of food. I think we're looking too at rituals and the deep maternal
and childlike needs around nourriture, what nourishes the body and
spirit. What melts down and is transmuted or transformed into liquid, what
enriches and darkens or rises as a soufflé, what changes when heat is
applied.
“The
repeated references to bones as well, the charnel house of bone and ash, the
shunning of dangerous small bones in fish or quail, the bones as structuring
the body and the seed that is planted and dies to become something green and
flowering or fruiting. (Thinking of André Gide's Si
le grain ne meurt...)
“Let me
give this some more thought.”
Alenier responded:
“I heartily
agree that Stein is dealing with ritual, taboo, and life-sustaining
nourishment!
“That little thing in is a little thing could
be a seed. What kind of seed looms large! Vegetable, human—semen, conceptual?”
THE
WORD AS SEED
Gaining
momentum, Armour added:
“Karren, let
me just riff here for a moment because something comes back to me about the
seed as spark—Stein is particularly interesting to us as a writer because she
has this omnivorous cultural and theoretical absorption, taking in so much from
all kinds of cultural and theological influences and, perhaps here, we could
reach back to Logos spermatikos, the Word as Seed, the Word as Light
from the Gospel of John ('In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. ...and the Word became Flesh") a mysterious and
potent statement.
“And then
of course we have the emanations of the Sephirot and the fragments of light or
seeds as sparks (my interpretation here leans to Lurianic, from the Shattering
or Shevirah), A key text cited here is Gen 1:11—"And Elohim said,
'Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree
yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth.' And it
was so.
“This is too
complex a field and I'm not sure how to sustain or follow through on metaphors
here at any depth or even sure-footedly, but I see again Gertrude Stein's
reaching back to origination, the source of creativity and nourishment,
illumination, the tiny glowing seed that will become a tree of wisdom and
light.”
Alenier responded:
“Yes, Mary!
I see hear where you are pointing—origination! Makes perfect sense Stein would
start at the beginning to establish her thoughts/study for how to renew the
language. Humbly I say it is like us her students digging into the root meanings
of the words she chooses.
“This is
also why we get glances of Medieval flourishes. Tomatoe vs tomato.”
Greeting Armour warmly, Treanor had this to say:
“Hello
Mary nice to see you back again! There is the seed there and the source of
creativity and nourishment, but there is also a darker side. A feeling of
death, aging, and decay. All those bones, all those not any more's, no more's,
lament, darkness and even an undertaker,
a ceiling of dirt (nearly- a does it dirty a ceiling). There is something of the
grave (both serious and a tomb) here. The whole cycle of life. Death and decay
leading to fertilization and regeneration and seeds and regrowth. A feeling
that the old (it is not when there is youth) must die, be buried, undertake to
have an undertaker, be put in a receptacle, have a ceiling of dirt, and be
reduced to bones.
“Melting
and not minding
sincere
solitude
if there
is anything left it is a bone
were not
present and not any more of either. (repeated 3 times)
A
receptacle and a symbol and no monster were present and no more
Is
it lamentable
Darkness
very dark darkness
it is not
if there is no undertaker
it is not
when there is youth
it
even makes no more
“Such somber
language and then finished with a strange thought about mutton (?old age) and lamb
(?youth) suggesting lamb (youth) is cheaper because it is little but then that little is more. Leaving me wondering does she mean it is more or less
valuable than mutton (old age)?
“I’m
supposing you have the saying Mutton dressed
up as lamb, too. Mutton and lamb used to
indicate age.”
STEIN’S VERSION OF THE
CREATION MYTH
Excited but Treanor’s
musing, Alenier said:
Mud and
water were not present and not any more of either. Silk and stockings were not
present and not any more of either. A receptacle and a symbol and no monster
were present and no more. This made a piece show and was it a kindness, it can
be asked was it a kindness to have it warmer, was it a kindness and does
gliding mean more. Does it.
While Treanor didn’t know about the golem, he
brought Pandora to this exchange:
“I never
knew about Golem being part of Jewish folk law, given life by inscribing Hebrew
symbols on its forehead.
“Feels like
the Frankenstein story, the monster brought to life by man and I was reading
somewhere recently about Zeus's punishment to Prometheus, part of it was to
fashion Pandora from clay, breath life into her, and give her as a
companion to man. The silk and stockings seem to suggest the female.
“And does
gliding mean more,
what is this gliding I wonder?”
Alenier
answered:
“Wow,
Pete, that's an amazing connection comparing the golem to Pandora!
And look at
that Pandora misconception! Not Pandora's box
but her jar!
Stein talks
about receptacle. here. Going to look up receptacle.”
re•cep•ta•cle
(rɪˈsɛp tə kəl)
n.
1 a container, device, etc., that
receives or holds something.
2 the modified or expanded portion of a
plant stem or axis that bears the organs of a single flower or the florets of a
flower head.
3 a contact device installed at an
electrical outlet, equipped with one or more sockets.
[1375–1425; Middle English (< Old French) < Latin
receptāculum reservoir =receptā(re) to take again, receive back (frequentative
of recipere to receive) + -culum -cle2]
“The
repetition of the word kindness makes
me think a Stein is talking gender. Some how receptacle & kindness are
related. Perhaps this is coded sex talk.
Stein is
saying this is not dirty. The silk stockings are not on the body. We have the
possible meaning of sexual parts of flower and the gliding.
Going into
high creative gear, Treanor offered:
“Mud and
water were not present and not any more of either.
Silk and
stockings were not present and not any more of either.
“A
receptacle + |
a symbol + |-
were present and no more
no monster |
“So mud, water, silk and stockings were not present and not
any more (does she mean not existing by not any more?) So can they
be discarded as unimportant or is it the fact that they are not there that is
important? Would whatever happened not happen if they were there?
“A receptacle, a symbol and no monster (so not a monster?)
were present. So is it these conditions that make the this in-
This made a
piece show and was it a kindness,
it can be asked was it a kindness
to have it warmer,
was it a kindness and
does gliding mean more. “Does it.
“So a receptacle, and a symbol, and something that wasn’t a monster (or
maybe nothing, just the absence of a monster) made a piece show. This is
set up as if it is a description of something that happened. But what is the
piece/peace?
Then she
poses questions. Was a piece show a kindness? Or maybe was it a kindness to let
the piece show?
“Then asks was it a kindness to have it warmer? (what has made
what warmer? Emotionally warmer or warmer in temperature?),
And asks was it a kindness again.
Then seemingly unrelated to what has gone before asks does
gliding mean more.
“The only things that seem present are a receptacle, a symbol, a piece,
kindness, warmth and gliding. All the rest of the words seem to not really add to
the meaning they just seem superfluous, misleading and/or misdirecting.
They seem like smoke and mirrors and an elaborate way of saying nothing,
of saying what wasn’t there, of sending the piece around into a circle going
nowhere. Nowhere in the sense of conveying meaning anyway. It seems like a
very elaborate way to convey something other than meaning, but what could
that other something be?
“Maybe
boiled down to the essence, she is talking of a symbolic receptacle that made a
piece (something) evident and is she wondering if this is a kindness.
Inherent in the question is that she thinks there is a possibility it might not
be perhaps. Was it cruel or kind this event, this showing? the gliding, the
warming and the receptacle do seem like they could be coded sexual language.”
Alenier
responded:
“By
opening Pandora's receptacle (a strictly forbidden act, all sorts of disaster
were let loose on the world.
“Pete, your
analysis of what actually exists in this stanza, also leaves us with kindness.
In my way of thinking, any occurrence of the word kind points to the
same-sex relationship that Tender Buttons
explores. Stein is saying there was no monster, no mud (dirt), no fancy
clothing (silk and stockings).”
Stepping
back a bit to reflect, Treanor offered:
“Karren, I
think I was feeling particularly grumpy when posting and reading about what was
and wasn’t in this passage. I remember feeling really irritated with her—
‘What on earth are you doing writing all this stuff about what apparently isn’t
present?’ She does annoy me from time to time!
“But then
I’ve been thinking about it and if you look at a piece as you would a painting,
that the spaces between the objects in/on a painting, the space between the
objects, is the thing that defines the shape of the object. The crafting of the
‘not there’ defines the shape of what is
there, and wondered if there was something of that in her writing so much about
what isn’t present as well as what is. A sort of defining the object by filling
in the space around it in some way. Not sure if there is anything in it, but it
has been an idea that keeps popping up in my mind in the last few days.
“The things
that seem present a receptacle, a symbol, a piece, kindness, warmth and
gliding are really interesting.
“A
receptacle (?Pandora's jar, a container or a receiver) a symbol and a piece
seem like they could be concrete objects. Warmth and kindness, could be
emotions/ qualities, Kindness could be sameness, same sex-ness, and gliding
sounds like it's an action or maybe a quality, a lack of friction perhaps.
“Most of
them seem like there could be a sexual element to them, except also a symbol
maybe. A symbol stands out to me as an enigma, what is the symbol, what is it
symbolising?”
A
PRIMITIVE MARKET WITH FOOD HANGING FROM CEILING
Not having a
good answer to Treanor’s questions, Alenier
moved on:
Does it
dirty a ceiling. It does not. Is it dainty, it is if prices are sweet. Is it
lamentable, it is not if there is no undertaker. Is it curious, it is not when
there is youth. All this makes a line, it even makes no more. All this makes
cherries. The reason that there is a suggestion in variety is due to this that
there is a burst of mixed music.
“Does anyone
feel like Stein has taken us into a primitive market where produce hangs from
the ceiling of some rustic hut with a dirt floor?
“In
this stanza Stein talks about prices, ceilings, line and
it made me think of a shop in a rustic hut.
“The mention
of undertaker and youth makes me think a butcher shop
specializing in mutton and lamb.”
CHERRIES
EVOKING VIRGINS & YOUNG GEORGE WASHINGTON
However, the line about
cherries changes the scene, Alenier
continued:
“All this makes cherries may be pointing to virgins as a follow on to the word youth.
“Not sure
about the mixed music but maybe it has to do with sexual inexperience. For
example, virgin whose cherry has not been popped, might scream in pain instead
of pleasure in the act of sexual intercourse.”
The next
comment from Alenier came after the
Buttons Collective moved on to study “Breakfast.”:
“Thanks to
TerI Rife who brought up the Suffragettes around the word dainty which
is used to excess in "Breakfast.", I now see some new things in
stanza 10 of “Mutton.”—cherries evoke
the myth of George Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree where the
6-year-old George is said to have told his father, I cannot tell a lie. Is
it lamentable, it is not if there is no undertaker. Is it curious, it is not
when there is youth. All this makes a line, it even makes no more. All this
makes cherries. Here Stein asks, was this something to grieve? No, the boy
lived true (not under taken by the devil) and told the truth. Therefore, the
incident was not strange (curious) because GW was a boy (youth) and while it
was quite an admission of guilt (a line but not a lie), the father could
forgive and that made George the apple of his eye (if not a sweet cherry).
“The burst
of mixed music could be patriotic music speaking of GW's prowess to come as the
first president of the United States.”
Teri Rife responds on the subject of lament:
“A lament is
a song, piece of music, or poem expressing sorrow. Music for the dead. So
"lamentable" ties to "undertaker" and "...a burst of
mixed music." And, of course, there is the pairing: variety/mixed.”
Then Rife follows up on the word dainty:
“I've taken
a closer look at the word dainty more
closely, since Stein gets really wound up
about it by the time we get to ‘Breakfast.’. The usage of this word peaked
around the year 1900. It's very much a term related to food, as a noun. A dainty is a tasty tidbit. But, underneath, its Latin root is dignus--worthy. Worth(y)
certainly ties to prices. I think it
also ties in nicely to the George Washington idea.
“So far as
the Suffragettes are concerned, I think it's karma that when the snarky members
of the patriarchal society used the word dainty
to try to shame them, they were really identifying their worthiness. Maybe
Stein thought so, too.”
Responding
to Rife, Alenier added:
“What a
powerful & elegant analysis! Your discoveries about the use & root of dainty are so helpful in appreciating why
Stein is repeating that word.
As in math, I
think her use of the negatives is a way to show how large the playing field is.
Ergo, no lament, no dirty ceiling, no agent of death! Instead youth &
cherries. Also that mixed music as if to say there is a party.”
CAKE FROM SUET
Moving on to
stanza 11, Alenier said:
A
temptation any temptation is an exclamation if there are misdeeds and little
bones. It is not astonishing that bones mingle as they vary not at all and in
any case why is a bone outstanding, it is so because the circumstance that does
not make a cake and character is so easily churned and cherished.
“Something
that is not held in high esteem is going on in this stanza. We have temptation,
misdeeds, and little bones. But there is also a high measure of
passion in words like exclamation, astonishing, and cherished.
“Cake made
me think this use had something to do with the fat from mutton. Well, suet is
made from either beef or mutton fat. AND I was excited (but also disgusted) to
see that suet is used
in British pastry making and puddings. So what could be more tempting than such
sweet culinary items? (in Stein's day, not ours, we know better about that
fat).
“Ever heard of
Spotted Dick (a pudding made with raisins and suet!)?
SHAKESPEARE’S
MORAL SPIN ON CAKE
Here Steiny
will stop to look at the origin of the word cake
which seems to be important to Stein through out section 2 Food. In this
stanza, Stein combines cake with character. Here’s what the Oxford
English Dictionary has to say about the origin of cake:
Origin
Middle English (denoting a
small flat bread roll): of Scandinavian
origin; related to Swedish
kaka and Danish
kage.
This is a Scandinavian word
and the first cakes were small flat bread rolls baked hard on both sides by
being turned during the baking process—you can see the idea of a rounded
flattened shape surviving in fishcake and potato cake.
The word occurs in many
common expressions as something pleasant or desirable. The phrase cakes and
ale, for example, means ‘merrymaking, a good time’. It comes from
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, when the roistering Sir Toby Belch says to
the puritanical steward Malvolio: ‘Dost thou think because thou art virtuous
there shall be no more cakes and ale?’
The idea behind the saying you
can't have your cake and eat it is that you cannot enjoy both of two
equally desirable but mutually exclusive things. The expression has been around
since at least the mid 17th century.
Let them eat cake is what Marie-Antoinette (1755–93), wife of Louis
XVI (1754–93) of France, is alleged to have said on being told that her people
had no bread. (The French word she is supposed to have used was brioche,
not cake.) This story is good, but its authenticity is suspect—Louis XIV's wife
is supposed to have said ‘Why don't they eat pastry?’ in a similar situation.
What Steiny
finds deliciously important here is the association to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Malvolio line, ‘Dost thou think
because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?’ Tender Buttons has a decided moral edge,
so having cake be associated with those who are not virtuous as judged by a
virtuous person is very important.
WHAT DO
BONES HAVE TO DO WITH SWEETNESS?
Moving along,
Alenier said:
“I just
noticed that stanza 11 uses the word cherished and Stanza 10 uses the
word cherries.
“Rootwise
these words are not related but visually they are
cherI shed
cherrI es
“Also both have to do with sweetness.”
Stepping
back to take an overall look, Treanor
observed:
“Its a
strange thing for an ex-medical student to say bones mingle as
they vary not at all, as they do vary, in shape and size anyway, all
bones have a distinctive shape, unless they are a set of the same bones like
rib bones maybe. I suppose they don’t vary in terms of their form (what they
are made of), hardness and function though. And why are they outstanding? Is
this to do with their hardness? They stand, stand out because they are so hard,
they support the whole weight of the body.
“But what circumstance
does not make a cake? Many circumstances do not make a cake. There are many
not one, as she suggests. In fact, only a very particular set of
circumstances does make a cake. Why is she suggesting there is
only one? A birthday or Christmas or other celebration is a circumstance to make
a cake. Bones don’t suggest a celebration, they suggest death. A cake
is usually baked and it is soft, not hard.
“Are bones
being churned? sounds like she could be making a gravy, soup or broth.
“Cake and
bones do sound a bit like Xmas to me, Xmas cake and the bones of the turkey
being made into a lovely broth. But it sounds more like bones without the
circumstance for a cake, so bones without a celebration? Is there death here, a
churning of emotion and the cherishing of someone/ something lost? Is she Cut
to the bone, getting down to the bone, stripped to the bone?”
Alenier
picked up Treanor’s musings on bones as follows:
“It’s a strange thing for an ex-medical student to
say bones mingle as they vary not at all, as they do vary, in
shape and size anyway, all bones have a distinctive shape, unless they are a
set of the same bones like rib bones maybe.
Peter Treanor
“Pete, I've
been thinking about what you said above and wonder if she might be talking
about bones used in women's corsets.
“Gertrude
might have been versed on whalebones when she was studying marine biology at
Woods Hole in Massachusetts.”
Feeling more
enthusiastic, Treanor replied:
“Oh, yes! I see
what you mean, Karren, temptation, misdeeds, circumstance, churning and
cherishing. Misdeeds and corsets (little bones) is she being a little racy
I wonder? Is not making a cake and character some kind of euphemism?
Maybe the bones in a corset keep the figure smooth and not varied and maybe the
little bones being removed (outstanding) leads to this thing (not making a cake)
that is easily churned and cherished.
The cherished and cherry thing make it feel like it could be erotic.”
Moving along
to the last two stanzas of “Mutton.”, Alenier continued:
Mouse and
mountain and a quiver, a quaint statue and pain in an exterior and silence more
silence louder shows salmon a mischief intender. A cake, a real salve made of
mutton and liquor, a specially retained rinsing and an established cork and
blazing, this which resignation influences and restrains, restrains more
altogether. A sign is the specimen spoken.
A meal in
mutton, mutton, why is lamb cheaper, it is cheaper because so little is more.
Lecture, lecture and repeat instruction.
“Now that I see
the whalebone connection and the Woods Hole possibility, I'm thinking these
last two stanzas pertain to the summer she spent studying marine biology—that
word specimen is a strong clue and the lecture and repeat
instruction.
“Mentioned
in the discussion about what whalebones were used for was a cable-backed bow—in
the mouse and mountain and a quiver subpoem, quiver might refer
to the portable case for holding arrows.
“Stein also
uses the word restrains which puts me
back in mind of the corset made with whalebones. Also the word pain.”
Alenier also
offered this:
“Among
Picasso's circle of close friends was André Salmon. Salmon, Picasso, Apollinaire
were pranksters so it could be Stein is pointing to Salmon as the mischief
intender.
“Could
the mouse be Alice? Could the mountain be Gertrude?
“Is Stein
showing us the studio where she posed for Picasso when he painted her now
famous portrait?
“And don't
forget in those days Picasso was poor. So all this talk about what is cheaper
would be meaningful.”
Steiny uses
whalebones to make announcement of this discovery that happened months after
the discussion of “Mutton.” took place. Steiny believes that Gertrude Stein
used Herman Melville’s Moby Dick as a
model for writing Tender Buttons. Moby Dick, like Tender Buttons, is a tale about morality involving a same sex
relationship. Steiny will be talking about this more and how she got to this epiphany
soon.
Participants: Karren
Alenier, Mary Armour, Judy Meibach, Teri Rife, Peter Treanor
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