Stepping Up Tender Buttons Objects: “A substance in a cushion.”

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A substance in a cushion: NUMBER 3

WORD COUNT......................-           475

STANZA(S)............................-           10

Other TBO Study Links…….-               Link 1, Link 2     

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

“Is [there] a callousness that overlooks individuality?” Pramila Venkateswaran

“what is reason? what is reasonable? what is her reason? am I being unreasonable? for sugar is not a vegetable, and would it not by any other name b as sweet?” Anthony Watkins

A SUBSTANCE IN A CUSHION.

The change of color is likely and a difference a very little difference is prepared. Sugar is not a vegetable.

Callous is something that hardening leaves behind what will be soft if there is a genuine interest in there being present as many girls as men. Does this change. It shows that dirt is clean when there is a volume.

A cushion has that cover. Supposing you do not like to change, supposing it is very clean that there is no change in appearance, supposing that there is regularity and a costume is that any the worse than an oyster and an exchange. Come to season that is there any extreme use in feather and cotton. Is there not much more joy in a table and more chairs and very likely roundness and a place to put them.

A circle of fine card board and a chance to see a tassel.

What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it. The question does not come before there is a quotation. In any kind of place there is a top to covering and it is a pleasure at any rate there is some venturing in refusing to believe nonsense. It shows what use there is in a whole piece if one uses it and it is extreme and very likely the little things could be dearer but in any case there is a bargain and if there is the best thing to do is to take it away and wear it and then be reckless be reckless and resolved on returning gratitude.

Light blue and the same red with purple makes a change. It shows that there is no mistake. Any pink shows that and very likely it is reasonable. Very likely there should not be a finer fancy present. Some increase means a calamity and this is the best preparation for three and more being together. A little calm is so ordinary and in any case there is sweetness and some of that.

A seal and matches and a swan and ivy and a suit.

A closet, a closet does not connect under the bed. The band if it is white and black, the band has a green string. A sight a whole sight and a little groan grinding makes a trimming such a sweet singing trimming and a red thing not a round thing but a white thing, a red thing and a white thing.

The disgrace is not in carelessness nor even in sewing it comes out out of the way.

What is the sash like. The sash is not like anything mustard it is not like a same thing that has stripes, it is not even more hurt than that, it has a little top.

“A substance in a cushion.” exhibits evidence (based on selected words) of these major themes: existence, appearance, gender, sexuality, morality, and union.  The Steiny Road Poet believes the first five subpoems of Tender Buttons, establish what the major themes of section 1 “Objects” are. In addition some of the subpoems of “Objects” also address printing and writing as well as gaming. Only a handful of subpoems in “Objects” address the six major themes but only three address the six major and two auxiliary themes (printing-writing & gaming): “A piece of coffee.”, “A plate.”, and “A seltzer bottle.”. In close consideration “A substance in a cushion.” might exhibit hints of gaming and writerly elements. In any case, this subpoem is highly significant to the over all work of Tender Buttons.

The 2014 Buttons Collective discussion of “A substance in a cushion.” includes highlights of comments on: language from a lab report, intoxicants, kosher versus trayfe, periodic elements, gossip, sewing, folk myths of ivy, connection to Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

WHAT COMES TO STEIN’S TABLE…OR BED

To review the thematic path into section 1 “Objects,”: “A carafe, that is a blind glass.” seems to tackle existence (possibly Stein’s birth) and “Glazed glitter.” complements with a version of Stein’s adult existence, that is, her subsistence (her means for maintaining her life)—what her career path looked like (the abandoned medical studies) and the anticipation of change. “A substance in a cushion.” picks up the theme of change in daily living (existence) and subsistence (the failed medical career) and meditates deeply on appearance (what is seen, what is not). “A substance in a cushion.” plays with sweetness (sugar) and color as life changers, such that we, as readers, suspect the presence of a beloved who will come joyfully to Stein’s table, if not her bed.

From historic background, we know the unnamed lover is Alice B. Toklas but Stein has her way of inserting signs of Toklas beginning with the article “a” which is used 40 times among the 470 words of  “A substance in a cushion.”

DEFINING SUBSTANCE

Peter Treanor pointed out that substance is “the essence of something, a particular kind of matter, an intoxicating drug, the most important part of something, the subject matter of a text/piece of work, having a solid base in reality, being dependable, quality of being important, wealth and possession.” Steiny interrupts to say substance could be Stein characterizing Alice’s importance to herself (Stein). This is Stein saying Alice is essential as a partner. Stein’s love for Alice is like an intoxicating drug. Alice is her subject matter for Tender Buttons. Nothing else in Stein’s life at this time is more important.

Peter said, 
”One or all of these could be employed as meaning here, I like the intoxicating drug one, especially in relation to the absinthe thread of thought [see the 2014 discussion of “A carafe, that is a blind glass.”]. Absinthe could be seen as cushioning the harsh realities of the world. Alcohol as a cushion to the troubles of life.” Steiny interrupts here to say that alcohol would not be Stein’s drug of choice.

ELEMENTS PENNED INTO CUSHION

In a 2013 discussion of Tender Buttons, Peter said Stein inserts instructions in her text. So taking that approach, Peter asked, “Is there a substance in the word cushion or in [the phrase] a cushion?” At first, he was stymied, but then he saw “h is hydrogen, o is oxygen, c carbon, n nitrogen, ni nickel, au gold, all substances ‘occurring’ in ‘cushion’ or ‘a cushion.’

MS Boase added copper, copper sulphate, tin and bronze to this discussion:

“Just focusing on the title... ‘A substance in a cushion.’ I loved Pete's idea that the word cushion could encode chemical symbols, the most obvious though is copper (Cu). A change in colour suggests copper sulphate (CuSO4), which a kind of (inedible) salt that has a very drastic colour change between blue and white depending on the presence of water. Also copper sulphate is IONic because it's a compound of a metal and a non-metal.

“But there's another interesting and important substance that springs to mind and that is bronze, an alloy of two metals, copper (Cu) and tin (Sn). They don't react but blend to form a very hard substance that was very important to mankind, it's discovery marked by the beginning of what we call the Bronze Age. Given this is the third poem, we should wonder if there is a bronze quality to it. If so, then we should expect to find gold (Au) in Tender Buttons one (I don't see it) and silver (Ag) Tender Buttons 2. I think I do see the latter... Ag or silver is very representative of the Alice-Gertrude partnership, A and G. I wonder if these ideas will recur later.”

Karren Alenier (a.k.a. Steiny) responded:

“MS, I agree that Pete's deconstruction of cushion into various chemical symbols is a cause for looking deeper into the "Objects" section and what it offers in a more overt way relative to elements like gold and silver.

“In the Buttons initial look at "A method of a cloak." (in 2013), Eleanor Smagarinsky saw that playful connection  of silver Ag as the Alice-Gertrude connection. Subsequently in my study of ‘Objects’ as a whole this summer (while I was working on my chapter for a forthcoming book called Forbidden Loves in the Jewish Tradition—lead editor is Corinne Blackmer), I came to believe that overall, silver stands for Alice and lead (also known as liquid silver) stands for Gertrude. [Silver and lead come up in ‘A seltzer bottle.’] Gold doesn't seem to be in ‘Objects.’ [Steiny inserts here that gold does appear once in section 2 ‘Food.’)

“Your discussion of copper, however, is quite interesting. In nature, silver can be found in lead and copper as well as gold and zinc. Another aspect of Gertrude is water. We see her aligning with water but not fire. Typically the male symbol is fire, the female symbol is water. In Jewish lore, there is male aspect to water that is involved with the Hebrew words for heaven shamayim שָׁמַ֫יִם and water mayim מָ֫יִם.  Eventually we will get to this in ‘Water raining.’ and ‘Careless water.’.”

MS answered, “The water ideas support the copper sulphate connection…Maybe the s is the substance IN cushion.”

That MS saw copper (cu) in cushion sent Peter researching copper with marked enthusiasm: “Oh my heavens MS, copper (cu) that is brilliant! Copper from Wikipedia , has so many associations with TBs…”

Because Stein employs lots of specific colors in the subpoems of “Objects” (this subpoem mentions blue, red, purple, pink, and green as well as black and white but it also hints a yellow with the word mustard), the Wikipedia copper citation, which details color and color changes, is highly relevant.

Particularly interest was the Wikipedia information about the s-orbital electron:

Copper, silver and gold are in group 11 of the periodic table, and they share certain attributes: they have one s-orbital electron on top of a filled d-electron shell and are characterized by high ductility and electrical conductivity.

In “Glazed glitter.” (the Corrected TB edition), this sentence features an “s”:

But there is, there is that hope and that interpretation and sometime, surely any s is unwelcome, sometime there is breath and there will be a sinecure and charming very charming is that clean and cleansing.

MS added: “…the S which is unwelcome is black sulfide (Ag_2 S) which tarnishes silver over time (and has application in photography, not sure if relevant, or since when), the polishing and cleansing referenced in the previous poem could then mean to keep silver sparkling...”

Karren responded to MS relative to his uncertainty whether photography figures into Tender Buttons, “The word silver comes up three times in the ‘Objects’ section of TB: ‘A seltzer bottle.’, ‘A method of a cloak.’, and subpoem 11 ‘A box.’. Hints at photography (and printing) surface in many of the subpoems, including subpoems 11 ‘A box.’, ‘A plate.’, and ‘A seltzer bottle.’.

LAB TALK OR PARENTAL ADMONISHMENT?

While Peter and MS had many more things to say about copper, for now Steiny puts that information on hold to move into stanzas 1 and 2 about which Pramila Venkateswaran said, “The first two statements sound like what one would read in a lab experiment: ‘The change of color...’ and ‘Callous...’ ‘Sugar is not a vegetable’ sounds tongue in cheek—something a parent would tell a child. Callous—the hardening seems to mark this piece.  Do we harden because of our prescribed gender roles? ‘Soft’ ‘pink’ ‘tassel’ suggest women. ‘Feathers’ reminds me of feathers in hats; also feathers in pillows and in mattresses. All these are prescribed rituals of society--dining together, writing according to rules, vacationing during ‘the season,’ which makes her [Stein] wonder if there is a callousness that overlooks individuality.

Karren Alenier agreed saying, “It fits Stein's experience as a scientist investigating objects, the life of objects, the activities of said objects.

“And to see callous in relation to gender roles and overlooked individuality captures the more veiled details from ‘A carafe.’ like a kind in glass and a cousin (something like finger pointing and accusatory—that type that I can see through and really? related to me?), a spectacle (that kind of person standing out and not conforming), nothing strange (oh, but not conforming demotes the strange person to nothingness), not ordinary (why isn't that person like everyone else?), not resembling (really that person couldn't possibly be my cousin!), the difference spreading.

“Intriguing to hear sugar is not a vegetable as a parental rebuke. Or at least to me it sounds disapproving which fits with what is callous.

“In ‘modern’ times—once people could do more than struggle to survive, that is, find food, shelter, a way to procreate—folks sought diversions, a way to reduce the stress of daily living. Then came these substances, like sugar, like absinthe.”

SUGARCANE & PILLOW CASE

From Wikipedia, Karren found this: Most sugar comes from sugarcane, which is a tropical grass. The leavings from cane juice become the powder that makes sugar.

Sugarcane belongs to the grass family (Poaceae), an economically important seed plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum and many forage crops. 

In India, between the sixth and fourth centuries BC, the Persians, followed by the Greeks, discovered the famous “reeds that produce honey without bees.”

Karren concluded: “Of course sugar has a long history tied up with slavery and wealth.”

Peter picked up the on sugarcane being vegetable and Therese Pope offered that you can chew on the cane but not eat it because it is tough and fibrous. Karren was doubtful about its byproduct, sugar, being labeled vegetable. Peter said, “The flower top of sugar in the picture does look like a feather and the link between sugar plantations and cotton plantations make me wonder about Come to season that is there any extreme use in feather and cotton..

Karren answered, “yes that line Come to season… seems very socio-political.”

Breaching the conversation, Steiny jumps in here to remind the reader that this subpoem opens talk about the change of color, which might be associated with the emancipation of slaves from the cotton fields of the American South. Now back to what Karren said in the ModPo forum, “The combo of cushion and feather always makes me think this is Stein's pillow talk. As with any late night talk comes the ecstasy and agony.”

Surfacing after a long absence, Claudia Schumann said, “I was just mulling over ‘come to season’ and thinking that it sounded like…the expression ‘coming into heat’ when animals are becoming fertile for reproduction. So I … thought ‘come to season’ may refer to a woman arriving at that time of the month. Then I also thought about ‘extreme use’—sometimes having sex during this time may be considered ‘extreme use.’ In reference to pillow talk, pillows are made of feather & cotton ticking—hence ‘feather and cotton.’”

Come to season…brought up the issue of Jewish woman and their cycle of menses and ritual bathing. The issue of making something kosher after it has become unclean (trayfe) plays in Stein’s phrase dirt is clean when there is volume. Karren commented, “Stein might be commenting obliquely about the unkosher same-sex marriage which must be kept under cover despite these ‘girls’ who have come to season (there being present as many girls as men). This gives a new spin on oyster (a costume is that any the worse than an oyster and an exchange), which is trayfe, unkosher, forbidden food.

Randy Parker associated cushion with a pincushion, preferably a red one and found all the surrounding associations fraught with sexual innuendo, especially the needle’s penetration of the cushion.

SWAN & IVY: A MARRIAGE OF LONGETIVITY OR A RISK?

One of the most difficult lines of this subpoem is this list that is merely a fragment but not a sentence:

A seal and matches and a swan and ivy and a suit.

For seal, Claudia ruled out the animal and suggested it was that mark of authority put on documents.

Peter offered this set of associations:

“I don’t know how it would shoe horn in but a Google search of the terms popped up with a picture of Anna Pavlova with her favourite pet swan, called Jack, taken at Ivy House where she lived. There are various photos of them but some are early 1900s and pre TBs time , so the images would have been available to GS. Jack is the name of a playing card, [Jacks, as are other cards] are ordered into suits, (bit tenuous I know).  Pavlova , Swan Lake, lovers suits , love matches? All the mythology around Swans, Zeus as a swan, swan maidens,  swan songs?”

Stepping Up Tender Buttons Objects: “Glazed glitter.”

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          Glazed glitter: NUMBER 2

WORD COUNT......................-           45

STANZA(S)............................-           1

Other TBO Study Links…….-               Link 1, Link 2     

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

“Almost every analysis of Stein begins with rhythm analysis.” Mary Armour

GLAZED GLITTER.

Nickel, what is nickel, it is originally rid of a cover.  

The change in that is that red weakens an hour. The change has come. There is no search. But there is, there is that hope and that interpretation and sometime, surely any s is unwelcome, sometime there is breath and there will be a sinecure and charming very charming is that clean and cleansing. Certainly glittering is handsome and convincing.

There is no gratitude in mercy and in medicine. There can be breakages in Japanese. That is no programme. That is no color chosen. It was chosen yesterday, that showed spitting and perhaps washing and polishing. It certainly showed no obligation and perhaps if borrowing is not natural there is some use in giving.

The 2014 Buttons Collective discussion of “Glazed glitter.” includes highlights of comments on: currency/money, fluidity/rhythm/sex, graven image/sacred text, interconnections between the first 2 subpoems, apocalypse, black sulfide as well as various word/phrase deconstructions. The Steiny Road Poets invokes her time machine and compass to offer a little background.

AT THE WAY/WEIGH STATION

While “A carafe, that is a blind glass.” goes head on with Stein’s existence in the universe, “Glazed glitter.” is a way/weigh station on her matrimonial route. She is both pausing to contemplate how she got to this trip down the wedding aisle and she is weighing the change she is experiencing. As stated in Steiny’s October 7, 2013 post: in “Glazed glitter.”, “Stein is talking about money, specifically the American coin called the nickel and possibly the chemical element which is used to make up the American nickel. She is also talking about one’s livelihood and specifically her own, which formerly had been predicated on her study of medicine.” Here are some highlights of Steiny’s original look at “Glazed glitter.”:

·     — The buffalo nickel went into production in 1913. Because Stein wrote the “Objects” section last and Tender Buttons was written from 1912 to 1913 (and published in the spring of 1914), the new nickel was probably something Stein was aware of.

·    

—  —“As a chemical element, nickel presents a silvery-white shine but may oxidize (turning a rusty red) when exposed to air or water. Maybe Stein considers this oxidation glazed glitter and is suggesting the oxidation is a temporal condition in the phrase red weakens an hour. In nature, nickel is often found in combination with the chemical element iron. Maybe Stein was referring to this condition of existing with iron in the opening line,  Nickel, what is nickel, it is originally rid of a cover where cover stands for iron.”

·      

—While “Glazed glitter.” is heavy on negatives (5 no’s and 1 not), it is counter balanced with the linking verb is (without not) 13 times  and to be with modal verbs twice (i.e. will be and can be).

BUFFALO, THE PERIPATETIC COW, & OTHER MOVING PARTS

Some new thoughts that occur to Steiny based on reviewing what she wrote originally are:

·      

   —Cows, cattle, sheep—cloven beasts—matter to Stein’s Tender Buttons landscape. (This will be learned later, especially in the “Food” section which begins with “Roastbeef.” and is followed by “Mutton.”.) While “Glazed glitter.” does not feature what adorns the American coin called a nickel, it does enough pointing—Nickel, what is nickel. It is originally rid of a cover—to make the discerning reader dig and find that the Liberty Head nickel circulated as the American five-cent coin from 1883 to 1912. Is Stein ironically remarking about the symbology for a nickel employed by the United States government—America, land of liberty (not for someone like Stein who was choosing a same-sex partner) now covered with a wild beast known better by the nomadic native Americans called Indians. Was Stein thinking of herself, she who had left America to make her home in France where she could better exercise her choices and be more liberated?

·      

   —The history and making of Tender Buttons can be referenced in “The Making of ‘Tender Buttons’: Gertrude Stein's subjects, objects, and the illegible” by Joshua Schuster. One sticking point is that Schuster was unable to determine whether “Food” or “Rooms” was written first.

·      

   —If “Carafe…” with its containers (carafe and glass) and family words, like cousin and resembling, emphasizes existence, then “…Glitter.” weighs in heavily on appearance. Cover raises the question of what is underneath and the specter of “keeping up appearances.” Charming suggests how appearance or form can be changed with a magic spell or just pleasing behavior that alters another person’s bad mood. Clean, cleansing, washing, and polishing are what we do to make us look good, if not feel better. Also color declares itself strongly with that red weakens an hour but it comes with contradiction: That is no color chosen. It was chosen yesterday (perhaps a ruse to keep something too bright, too smart from getting too much exposure).

HOW A NICKEL POINTS TO THE GOLDEN CALF

Judy Meibach asked what glazed glitter has to do with nickel? Karren Alenier (a.k.a. Steiny) answered:

“This subpoem is about change. Nickel is one type of change.”

Then Karren suggested looking at this list of words:

change 

red weakens

change has come

search

hope

interpretation

unwelcome

breath

clean and cleansing

glitter is handsome

no gratitude in mercy

breakages

chosen yesterday

showed no obligation

if borrowing is not natural

some use in giving

Karren continued building a case about how glazed glitter is connected to nickel.

“If you buy into Tender Buttons being a sacred declaration of Stein's marriage to Toklas (and you may not, especially if you haven't had much time to sit with the "Objects" section), then you might sense a whiff of things Jewish and of sacred texts.

“I think this list of selected words might help you see the Jewish connection.

“For example, the word chosen, as in The Chosen People. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

In Judaism, chosenness is the belief that the Jews are a people chosen to be in a covenant with God. The Jewish idea of being chosen is first found in the Torah (five books of Moses) and is elaborated on in later books of the Hebrew Bible. This status carries both responsibilities and blessings as described in the Biblical covenants with God.

“Except something is broken (breakages), weak (red weakens) and there are other problems like no gratitude and no sense of obligation. And why is borrowing not natural and this—a half hearted some use in giving?

“If you go back to Stein's text:  there will be a sinecure (a cushy job paying well). The root meaning of sinecure means without care. What is so good about a sinecure? Because glittering is handsome and convincing.

Then Karren suggested the possibility that Stein was associating the 1913 buffalo nickel with the Golden Calf. From Wikipedia:

When Moses went up into Biblical Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:12-18), he left the Israelites for forty days and forty nights. The Israelites feared that he would not return and demanded that Aaron make them "gods" to go before them (Exodus 32:1). Aaron gathered up the Israelites' golden earrings, constructed a "molten calf" and "they" that demanded "gods" declared: "These [be] thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." (Exodus 32:4) The plurality of gods depicted or honoured on the ear-rings became a united image of a calf, fashioned by Aaron with a "graving tool", a plurality in unity.[2]

Karren continued: “Then glazed glitter might refer to a graven image made from metals coming from the earth.

 

“What does the Golden Calf / glazed glitter represent to Stein?

“Could it be the lost income from that cushy job as a doctor? There is no gratitude in mercy and in medicine.

NICKEL AS TENDER

Therese Pope reporting on her live ModPo study group in California, said her group associated nickel with currency (nickel is a monetary coin) and how that relates to Stein’s overall title Tender Buttons (tender—something, especially money, offered in payment)

Mary Armour responded, “The current of attraction/repulsion running  through currency!”

Wanting clarification, Therese asked, “Do you mean the ‘flow’ of attraction like the current/connection between two people (maybe Gertrude and Alice?) and ‘repulsion’ for money/currency?”

Mary answered:

“I was thinking here about what happens to currency in circulation. Nickel, inferior to the original gold louis or franc, was a commonly held international reserve currency in the 19th and 20th centuries—in France nickel 25-centime coins were introduced in 1903.

“The etymology of currency and connection to a current:

1650s, "condition of flowing," from Latin currens, present participle of currere "to run" (see current (adj.)); the sense of a flow or course extended 1699 (by John Locke) to "circulation of money."

“There are coins glazed and glittering, new coins but as you say, all is not gold that glitters. This may refer to new nickel that will become tarnished nickel. As coins pass from hand to hand in circulation, from trouser pocket to shopkeepers till, what happens to the 'cover' or surface of  such coins? They  become tarnished, greasy, —but perhaps more shiny, rubbed shiny  with spit and polish. They acquire a patina perhaps, or they lose original lustre to take on another value or surfacing.

Nickel, what is nickel, it is originally rid of a cover.

“My mention of  an electrical current responding to forces of attraction/repulsion arises from what seems to me ambivalence in tone for certain phrases.

Certainly glittering is handsome and convincing.

“Could this be read ironically? What glitters may be handsome, but not necessarily convincing. Handsome is as handsome does. And if we read this as an ironic aside, what about that statement in the previous sentence—

there will be a sinecure and charming very charming

“What could be charming very charming about a sinecure? Within  some of Stein's sentences are embodied contradictions—how do we read phrases that seem to stand alone rather than integrated into the sentence? How are we meant to read handsome, convincing, charming except as terms that could point to either attraction or repulsion? Is sincerity found in what glitters?

“I am very taken with the reading you and Charles give of that complex last sentence which points one way and then another.

It certainly showed no obligation and perhaps if borrowing is not natural there is some use in giving.

“That word certainly again. Do we read it this time without irony? And then the pointer towards the value of altruism, giving. That tension between borrowing and giving—which incurs obligation, which shows obligation? Obligation in the exchange of currency referring to that sense of forced contractual obligation which means 'I owe you'.”

WHEN PHRASES XCEED THEIR SENTENCES

Here Steiny pauses for Mary’s unattended question: “how do we read phrases that seem to stand alone rather than integrated into the sentence?” Perhaps these stand-alone phrases are signposts that direct competing thoughts as if we readers were driving along a highway where the signs are not quite the language we are familiar with. This very phenomenon has caused Steiny to chart the kinds of words encountered in Tender Buttons into thematic categories. Steiny sees these themes in Tender Buttons: existence, appearance, morality, sexuality, gender, union, games, and printing-publishing-writing.

Stepping Up Tender Buttons Objects: “A carafe, that is a blind glass.”

THE BOOK ..........................-           TENDER BUTTONS

THE SUBBOOK ...................-           OBJECTS

THE SUBPOEM ...................-          A carafe, that is a blind glass: NUMBER 1

WORD COUNT......................-           45

STANZA(S)............................-           1

Other Study Links                               Link 1, Link 2

THE LEADER........................-           THE STEINY ROAD POET

CO-LLABORATORS..............-           MODPO STUDENTS/THE BUTTONS

“Let's just take a compass rose as a place for looking at a system of pointing.” Mary Armour

“…maybe we are blinded by our own prejudices when it comes to concerns we find taboo or out of our comfort zones—the carafe is full, so to speak. Too full, that it becomes a blind glass.” T. De Los Reyes

“I am thinking about / looking forward ahead to cloth as a woven web...” Nathan Walker

A CARAFE, THAT IS A BLIND GLASS.

A kind in glass and a cousin, a spectacle and nothing strange a single hurt color and an arrangement in a system to pointing. All this and not ordinary, not unordered in not resembling. The difference is spreading.

REOPENING THE TENDER BUTTONS LIVING ROOM

The Steiny Road Poet decided to lead a new ModPo study group on Tender Buttons Objects (section 1) as a way to ease into a forthcoming and brand new ModPo study group on Tender Buttons Food (section 2). Because Stein’s work is so multi-dimensional, new things have been seen, which may aid in close reading “Food.”

One change to note is, forthwith. Steiny will spell the titles of Tender Buttons subpoems as Stein intended, but which was not noted until recently in the Corrected Centennial Tender Buttons edited by Seth Perlow. This means that the initial word will be capitalized but not the rest of the title except for a couple of anomalies: “A little called Pauline.” and “Colored Hats.”.

In these blogposts, Steiny will attempt to showcase selected comments and summarize without embellishment others concerning what hasn’t been noticed in previous study sessions.

To be inclusive, here are some points noticed by Steiny in her October 6, 2013 post:

—Gertrude Stein’s existence weighed heavy on her since she knew she and her brother Leo were replacements for children who came before them and who did not survive their infancy.

Therefore Steiny read “A carafe, that is a blind glass.” as a story of Stein’s birth. Key words: kind (KindèGerman for child), cousin, spectacle, hurt color, resembling.

—Arrangement in a system to pointing might indicate an arranged marriage, which also weighs heavily on producing children. But it could also be how to read Torah with an implement called a yad or it could be the way vowels are inserted (after the fact) in Hebrew text or an indication for how to chant a psalm.

—Stein as consummate scientist concerns herself with elemental balance. Ergo her double negative bookended with simple negatives: All this and not ordinary, not unordered in not resembling. More importantly, she is emphasizing existence in the opening subpoem and that existence which is different is proliferating.

TZDAKAH OF THE CARAFE

Robert Dougherty offered this close reading that built upon the word kind as giving:

If I can build upon my definition of "kind as giving" as the carafe "gives wine to the glass," I can see a metaphor that Stein may have built.  

The carafe is not a real carafe but a person with knowledge.  The carafe gives intangible "knowledge" to a glass that is an empty vessel, not a real glass but another person who receives "knowledge."  The carafe is made of "blind glass" because when a person like a poet, for example gives a poem to the future, the poet does not know who will read the poem.  

The carafe and the glass are cousins, as are the one who writes and the one who reads the poem.  Hurt glass refers to the transfer of emotion over time without actual touch. It is an "Arrangement." It points in time always from writer to reader, it is a system of passing knowledge from one generation to the next, from the carafe to the glass, always blind, in birth it hurts as with passing knowledge. Thus the "difference" the carafe "spreads" is its content (knowledge) to the future.

DECONSTRUCTIONS:

Gertrude Stein: A kind in glass and a cousin

Anthony Watkins: A kinding lass and a cousin

Peter Treanor:  A kindèakinèkin

Peter Treanor:  a cousinèaccusing

Peter Treanor:  A kin ding lass sand a cousin

Peter Treanor:  an object that could be part of a group or family, made of glass but "blind" glass, part of a pointing/orientated system. A compass? a watch? a clock? 

Peter Treanor:  A watch, cousin to a compass.

Mary Armour: Compass: 'an arrangement in a system to pointing' but not always true North.

Peter Treanor:  an arrangement in a system to pointingè a derangement in a system to painting. (Is Stein explaining, orienting the reader before she him/her on the voyage through TB. And referring to Cubism, all this—this poem, sentence, word—not ordinary, ordered, not resembling. Like a Cubist painting.)

Karren Alenier: Using a backward reach from "A Chair.", a subpoem that seems to deal with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, cousin and spectacle might suggest Our American Cousin, the play Lincoln was watching when John Wilkes Booth shot him, thereby causing the hurt color and causing the need for an arrangement in a system (the justice system) to (finger) pointing (the accused assassin).

Peter Treanor: a carafeèa craft

GETTING ORIENTED

From the word play came Mary Armour’s thoughts on what a system to pointing might indicate:

Let's just take a compass rose as a place for looking at a system of pointing. Gertrude Stein begins to write about OBJECTS and begins by giving the reader directions for a new way of looking and journeying. She begins therefore with an arrangement in a system of pointing, and for her purposes, the spectacle of a glass and carafe on a table is a compass, nothing strange. But not ordinary, not unordered, not resembling, a different kind of arrangement for pointing.

On the compass there are four cardinal directions: North, South, East , West. There are eight inter-cardinal (or ordinal) directions northeast (NE), southeast (SE), southwest (SW), and northwest (NW). Intermediate points are added to give the sixteen points of a wind compass. 32 points for a mariner's compass. This is how we navigate, taking our bearings traditionally from True North (rather than magnetic North). But if you can 'see' a multiplicity of directions and possibilities simultaneously, you don't need True North. Here or there depends on a different kind of perspective. As GS said of Oakland, "There is no there there."

The compass or arrangement for pointing Gertrude Stein chooses is not pointing out there to a representational reality or topology or climate outside of language. It is a linguistic signifying pointer to language itself, language as reality, language as seeing. It is a compass pointing to blindness and insight.

FINDING THE PHILOSPHIC UNDERPINNING

Among the philosophers and philosophy brought into this study session were:

Wittgenstein—on language games,

Alfred North Whitehead—on process and reality

Empiricism—relative to the role of experience and evidence

Edmund Husserl—relative to phenomenology of embodiment

Mary Armour: As we launch into Objects, I'd like to just give a little quotation from Wittgenstein on 'language games' to remind us all about the many teasing games played in language-making and how many ways we can 'hear' or  'read' a communication. All of them, some of them and  more than one of them are to be found in Stein:

'Review the multiplicity of language games in the following examples, and in others: 

--Giving orders, and obeying them-- 

--Describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements

--Constructing an object from a description (a drawing)-- 

--Reporting an event-- 

--Speculating about an event-- 

--Forming or teasing a hypothesis-- 

--Presenting the results of an experiment in tables and diagrams-- 

--Making up a story; and reading it-- 

--Singing catches-- 

--Guessing riddles-- 

--Making riddles-- 

--Making a joke; telling it-- 

--Solving a problem in practical arithmetic-- 

--Translating from one language into another-- 

--Asking, thanking, cursing, greeting, praying.'

Karren Alenier excited about the language game list (Sprachspiel) offered these Wikipedia quotes about Wittgenstein and about the relationship Stein had with Alfred North Whitehead:

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.[4] From 1929–1947, Wittgenstein taught at the University of Cambridge.[5] During his lifetime he published just one slim book, the 75-page Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (1921), one article, one book review and a children's dictionary.[6] His voluminous manuscripts were edited and published posthumously.

Alenier: “So what this bio intro says, Stein probably didn't know anything about Wittgenstein's work unless her good friend Alfred North Whitehead knew him. Stein & Toklas got stuck at his house in July 1914 as WWI was erupting (that was after publication in May 1914 of Tender Buttons—I’m not sure when she first met this philosopher). Here’s a profile on Whtehead:”

Beginning in the late 1910s and early 1920s, Whitehead gradually turned his attention from mathematics to philosophy of science, and finally to metaphysics. He developed a comprehensive metaphysical system which radically departed from most of western philosophy. Whitehead argued that reality was fundamentally constructed by events rather than substances, and that these events cannot be defined apart from their relations to other events, thus rejecting the theory of independently existing substances.[28] Today Whitehead's philosophical works – particularly Process and Reality– are regarded as the foundational texts of process philosophy.

Whitehead's process philosophy argues that "there is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have consequences for the world around us."[28]

Alenier: “Anyway, Mary that language game list is a good roadmap for reading Stein!!!”

Nathan Walker: “I think there is a definite and ongoing connection to Whitehead's Process and Reality to be made, even outside of friendship and association. (Stein knew Whitehead and spent several weeks at his house when she and Toklas got stuck in England at the start of WWI.) To look at Whitehead in concert with Cezanne's influence on Stein gives one pretty much a compositional technique of a field made from the networked connections between distributed elements, each of which is weighted equally in the composition, and points at every other element with multiple, over-determined threads. This produces a web, or tapestry.”

Peter Treanor: “The description of TBs as a web of interconnected parts seems to me to be a description of the human brain also—a web of interconnected parts that have a conversation with each other. Though some pathways may be more established than others, it still has the potential to make interconnections and have “conversations" with itself and its constituent  parts.