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New Statesman
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Gertrude Stein's quest for fame
Photo by Cecil Beaton / Conde Nast via Getty Images Gertrude Stein is, famously, one of those authors whose name is better known than her works. This was so during her lifetime, as the biographer Francesca Wade demonstrates in her readable and illuminating account of Stein's life and literary afterlife. Wade explores how we have come to perceive Stein, as a writer and as a character. And a 'character' she was: a self-created literary phenomenon, keen to have her name in the press and to have herself talked about, for good or ill. It was FR Leavis who made the comment that Edith Sitwell belonged 'to the history of publicity rather than poetry', and the same could have been said of Stein, her American contemporary and acquaintance. The story of her journey from her birth in 1874 to a cultured and wealthy middle-class émigré Jewish family in Pennsylvania to the Rue de Fleurus and the salons of turn-of-the-century Paris, and of her survival with her companion Alice B Toklas in France through two world wars, is gripping and full of surprises. Her friendships and quarrels with celebrities such as Hemingway, Picasso and Matisse have been well documented: less so her intrepid wartime adventures at the wheel of her Ford motor car, 'Auntie'; her love of a succession of dogs called Basket; and her brief flirtation after the Armistice with the notion of translating Pétain's speeches into English. One of the most curious features of Stein's career was her compulsion to keep, preserve and deposit every scrap of her own literary output, a habit which must have made the biographer's task both more arduous and, one hopes, ultimately more rewarding. Wade has examined on our behalf the vast archive Stein left, and untangles for us the complicated posthumous story of her acolytes, admirers, editors and bibliographers and their relationships with Toklas, the survivor: nearly half of the volume is devoted to what occurred after Stein's death at the age of 72 in July 1946. By the time we reach this point in the narrative, we have become familiar with and fond of Stein's eccentricities: her generosity and stubbornness and courage and wit and relentless self-promotion. Her earlier years, less well known by most of us, are recounted with insight: her studies at Radcliffe and Harvard; her developing understanding of her own sexuality, which she addressed in her early fiction; and her relationships with philosopher and psychologist William James, and her brother, the art collector and critic Leo (with whom she lived in Paris until they fell out – Stein's description of her estrangement from Leo is peculiarly and delightfully Steinian: 'Little by little we never met again'). The growth of her extraordinary self-confidence, and the style with which she expressed it, are carefully traced, and remain astonishing. She entitled herself, and she succeeded in living up to her own expectations of fame. However, all was not plain sailing in her drive for recognition. Although she was comfortably off financially, and lived a pleasantly independent rentier life, she longed to be a popular commercial success, and not surprisingly she found it very hard to find publishers to take her on. Her work was too difficult, too obscure, too provocative. She had many overtures but few offers. She found a home in little magazines such as Paris's surrealist journal transition, which welcomed experimental work, but she had to pay the costs of some of her publications. For example, in 1922 she forked out $2,500 to the Four Seas Company of Boston to take on her collection of 52 short pieces, Geography and Plays, for which she wrote her own autobiographical note praising her 'brilliant work' on the brain as a medical student and the 'profound influence of Cézanne' on her writing. This volume was greeted by what Wade describes as 'some of the most hostile reviews Stein ever received': the Baltimore Sun announced that 'Miss Stein applies cubism to defenceless prose', one critic described her work as '419 pages of drivel', and the New York Herald Tribune compared her to the emperor with no clothes. It was hard going, but she persevered unapologetically with her unique agenda, seeming to believe, as she bravely declared in The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas, that bad attention was better than no attention at all. She soldiered on, and her reputation grew, for both good and ill, and by 1926 she was sufficiently esteemed by academe to received dual invitations to lecture at both Oxford and Cambridge. She describes herself as having been intensely anxious and nervous before these performances, but she spoke to packed houses and received many questions and rapturous applause. She fielded the questions with wit, according to herself and others, and the events made her feel 'like a prima donna'. She was backed up, in Cambridge, by Harold Acton and the Sitwells. It is worth noting that her Cambridge lecture was two years ahead of Virginia Woolf's seminal 'A Room of One's Own', first delivered in 1928. At this period, the Woolfs were considering taking some of her work for the Hogarth Press: she had tried to persuade them to publish her immensely long and unwieldy novel The Making of Americans, but Virginia could not 'brisk [herself] up to deal with it'. But they did publish her lecture, 'Composition as Explanation', and the Sitwells gave a dinner for her in London where she met EM Forster. Stein conquered both Paris and London on her own terms. Nearly ten years later, in 1934, she conquered America. Returning to her native land for a lecture tour after an absence of decades, she was able to celebrate the success of what many consider her most readable work, The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas, published in 1933. She and Toklas were on the road (and in the air, as they took their first aeroplane) for seven months and took in 37 states. 'Gertrude Stein has arrived,' announced the ticker tape in New York to greet them. And arrived she had. They met many celebrities, including Eleanor Roosevelt, who invited her to tea in the White House. Stein enjoyed explaining her idiosyncratic prosody to her audiences, her love of long sentences and her antipathy to the 'servile comma', about which she is very funny. Her glory was compounded in the same year by the production of her opera Four Saints in Three Acts,with music by Virgil Thomson (with whom she had a characteristically turbulent friendship) and choreography by Frederick Ashton. It was 'a knockout and a wow', according to her most devoted admirer (and eventually her executor) Carl Van Vechten, and it transferred to Broadway, where 'it played for six weeks to sell-out houses, the longest run for an opera in the city's history'. It was quoted in the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat and in the Charlie Brown comic strip. The chronology of her American triumphs is a little confusing – but that is probably because so much was going on. She had at last achieved the fame for which she had always longed. The stories of Stein's professional success and the intimate details of her domestic and sexual life are equally interesting, and both are well told. But they do leave one with an important question: do they make her work any more readable, any more accessible? The oeuvre which she strove with such determination to see in print is certainly accessible now, in that you can buy (as I did) the Delphi edition of her Collected Works on Kindle for £2.99. Stein would surely have been delighted to have reached the mainstream via a new technology (even if the text of the Kindle edition raises its own problems, as one is often unable to decide whether certain eccentricities, such as the persistent spelling of words like 'roumanian' with a lower case 'r', are hers or the device's, which gives an added piquancy to the pursuit of Stein's genius). I failed to tackle The Making of Americans but reread the Autobiography and enjoyed some of her early and more conventional shorter pieces. Wade alerts us to the fact that Wars I Have Seen, including its portrayal of village life during wartime near the French-Swiss border, was in its day 'hugely successful', and it is indeed a relatively straightforward read, raising interesting questions about why Stein and Toklas were left unmolested by Pétain's anti-Semitic regime. Stein's politics were inconsistent, and she was on good terms with both collaborators and Resistance fighters: the story of the Vichy government official Bernard Faÿ and his putative protection of Stein and Toklas is particularly intriguing. Wade's biography is a fine introduction to the riches of Stein's formidable output, and an encouragement to those unfamiliar with this terrain to travel further. Much has been written about Stein from many critical and ideological viewpoints, and specialists will surely find statements here to correct or dispute, but for the general reader this is an incentive to read on and explore her world. Richard Ellman's masterly biography of James Joyce (of whose success Stein was jealous) has persuaded many readers to tackle Finnegans Wake, while Hugh Kenner's The Pound Era (1971) re-established the poet Ezra Pound as one of the great modernists. Leon Edel's The Life of Henry James is another notable marker. Biography can be the gateway to understanding and, more than that, to enjoyment. The Delphi modernists list now includes Carson McCullers, Dos Passos, Camus and Katherine Mansfield. Gertrude Stein is one of its boldest choices and, with Francesca Wade's guidance, should tempt more of us to get beyond a rose is a rose is a rose. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife Francesca Wade Faber & Faber, 480pp, £20 Purchasing a book may earn the NS a commission from who support independent bookshops [See more: Edward St Aubyn's comedy of horrors] Related
The Sun
28-04-2025
- The Sun
The BBC hasn't changed despite all the promises – how many more sex pests, bullies or worse still work there?
READING the BBC's 'new' report into its workplace culture you could be forgiven for thinking you'd taken a spin in Doctor Who's Tardis to 2013. Because, just like 12 years ago, Auntie, the self-appointed high priestess of probity, once again stands decked out in sackcloth, and dusted down with ashes, as the contrition counter hits 11. 3 Back then it was the publication of the so-called Respect At Work report, written by barrister Dinah Rose QC, that had Auntie tucking into the humble pie. Commissioned shortly after a separate report into how Jimmy Savile managed to rape and molest his way around BBC corridors for decades, it revealed a corporation in crisis. Rose found a business with a 'strong undercurrent of fear', riddled with bullying, humiliating and inappropriate behaviour. A workplace of 'untouchable stars' behaving as they wished and without consequences. Toxic behaviour And a staff terrified of raising complaints for fear of being sacked — or simply because they had a 'weary sense' that their concerns would be ignored. A slew of new systems were to be implemented to ensure that the BBC's Values — 'Values' is always pompously capped up by the BBC, as if denoting tablets of stone carved by The Almighty himself — were not compromised by bad actors, like the male stars it hired on eye-watering salaries. There would be more robust procedures to tackle problems, like a hotline to call it out. Bad behaviour would no longer be tolerated, declared the 16-strong management board who all personally signed the report. Yet it was. Time and time again. Fast forward to 2025 and yesterday's long-awaited publication of the BBC Workplace Culture Review and you are hit by a strong sense of deja vu. Staggering sum BBC has paid out probing Huw Edwards and Tim Westwood scandals revealed – sparking fury from victim Same problems, different monster. This time the chief bogeyman was newsreader Huw Edwards, the paedophile who exploited his position as 'national treasure' for years by preying on youngsters, then refused to give back our money when he got found out. A narcissistic pervert — exposed by The Sun, despite the best efforts of the BBC and Edwards' lawyers to stop us — who bestrode the BBC newsroom like 'this God of news', according to staff who loathed his arrogance. Edwards' fall from grace quickly provoked calls for yet another root and branch examination of the BBC's toxic working practices. Yesterday that probe, which questioned 2,580 people 'working with or for the BBC', was finally published, revealing precious little has changed since 2013. Lessons have not been learnt. The report admits the BBC is still beset by bullying and toxic behaviour and staff are fearful that complaining will be 'career limiting'. And even if they do complain they remain convinced that senior managers will not punish the wrongdoing if those doing it are useful to the BBC. These characters who staff believe are 'worth more to the BBC than you are' will, as the report notes, 'continue to thrive, and in some cases are promoted'. Separate figures published by Deadline last week revealed that even when complaints are upheld, about TWO-THIRDS of those staff are kept on, even those who engaged in sexual harassment. Meanwhile, complainants have to endure a 'traumatising . . . unsupportive' process and will ultimately be 'kept in the dark'. Indeed, the BBC's own internal £340,000 report into Edwards, convicted of possessing indecent images of children, was never published and likely never will be, despite numerous complaints made about the presenter by BBC staff. 'Nothing to see here' has been BBC Director-General Tim Davie's aloof position on its publication. It is interesting, yet perhaps not surprising, that yesterday's report does not mention the name Huw Edwards. 3 Yet cocksure Edwards was very much considered one of the 'untouchable' members of staff the report suggests were 'known for getting away with poor behaviour'. He was known to be a 'difficult' 'talent' long before The Sun uncovered the more egregious examples of his behaviour. How many more sex pests, bullies or worse are still active at the Beeb? The BBC would have us believe that the bad apples in its particular orchard are small — 'a minority of people'. But a quick look at its rap sheet since the release of the 2013 report — and its ensuing avalanche of empty promises — would suggest otherwise. Fawn over 'talent' Their behaviours, alleged or otherwise, may be wildly different but for every Huw Edwards, Tim Westwood, Russell Brand, Jermaine Jenas and Gregg Wallace there are scores of people holding them up. And it is these people — the enablers — that harbour the biggest problem for the BBC. And these enablers can often go right to the top of the BBC. They are the ones who enforce the rules, the ones who fawn over the 'talent' and then kick complaints about them into the long grass. Look at the announcement of the report itself, cynically briefed to the BBC's Today programme early yesterday, which duly trotted out the absurd line: 'The BBC understands that the BBC doesn't have a toxic culture.' Needless to say that was not the headline other, more sceptical, news organisations chose to go with when the actual report was released several hours later. So will this review and its 'clear, practical recommendations' — there's that complaints 'hotline' idea again — do what the 2013 report failed to do and stop them? Can Lord Reith's lumbering leopard change its spots? History would suggest otherwise.
Times of Oman
19-04-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Initiative launched to improve quality of life for senior citizens in Oman
Muscat: Al-Futtaim IKEA, in collaboration with the Ihsan Association, has transformed 'Auntie Nasirah's Room'—a heartfelt initiative designed to improve the quality of life for senior citizens in Oman. More than just a room, this project is a testament to care, dignity, and the importance of creating spaces where seniors feel safe, comfortable, and valued. It reflects Al-Futtaim IKEA's ongoing commitment to making life at home better for everyone, at every stage of life. Auntie Nasirah is not a real person but a symbol of compassion and elderly care. Within the Ihsan Association, 'Auntie Nasirah's Room' serves as an educational space, welcoming around 20 visits per month from universities, schools, and families looking to understand how they can create a more senior-friendly home environment. Every detail in the room has been carefully curated by IKEA's home furnishing experts to enhance mobility, accessibility, and emotional well-being. Through smart design, ergonomic solutions, and a focus on safety, Al-Futtaim IKEA ensures that seniors can enjoy a home that supports their independence while remaining warm and inviting. Jokha Al Farsi, Founder and Head of Ihsan Association, highlighted the importance of this initiative: 'Auntie Nasirah's Room is more than just a space—it's a meaningful step toward fostering a home environment where senior citizens feel safe, comfortable, and respected.' Mohamed Al Kurdi, Market Manager at Al-Futtaim IKEA, added: 'With our deep-rooted expertise in home furnishing, we are dedicated to providing practical, stylish, and affordable solutions that meet the everyday needs of older adults. Everyone deserves a home that supports them at every stage of life.' To further inspire and educate the community, Al-Futtaim IKEA has created a mirrored setup of 'Auntie Nasirah's Room' within its showroom, offering visitors a firsthand experience of senior-friendly home solutions. This interactive space encourages families to explore small yet impactful home adjustments that can significantly enhance the daily lives of elderly loved ones. Mohamed Al Kurdi added: 'This initiative is a reminder that good home design isn't just about aesthetics—it's about functionality, comfort, and ultimately, supporting people to live independently and with dignity.' This collaboration between Al-Futtaim IKEA and the Ihsan Association highlights the power of public-private partnerships in driving meaningful social change. By merging IKEA's expertise in home design with Ihsan Association's deep understanding of elderly care, 'Auntie Nasirah's Room' sets a new standard for inclusive and thoughtful living spaces. Aligned with Oman's vision of enhancing social well-being, this initiative reinforces Al-Futtaim IKEA Oman's dedication to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Inspired by real needs and real people, 'Auntie Nasirah's Room' is a stepping stone toward creating homes that truly support seniors in living independently and with pride.
CNN
03-04-2025
- Business
- CNN
Subway is adding footlong nachos to its menu
Subway is adding nachos to its menu, but with an unusual twist. The chain is partnering with Doritos to sell footlong nachos for $5, marking Subway's latest addition to its popular Sidekicks menu that aims to attract budget-conscious customers. In a press release, Subway said the new dish is 'freshly prepared' using nacho cheese-flavored Doritos chips, topped with cheddar cheese, jalapeno slices, diced tomatoes, red onions and drizzled with a chipotle sauce. To make it more filling, customers can add rotisserie-style chicken or steak for no extra charge or a scoop of avocado for an additional cost. Subway has gradually been expanding its Sidekick menu since its introduction last year. Most recently, the chain added a 12-inch slab of chocolate cookie dough that is sprinkled with pieces of Oreos and topped with vanilla cream. The Sidekick menu also includes 12-inch versions of chocolate chip cookies, a Cinnabon churro and a soft pretzel from Auntie Anne's. It also has three footlong foods called Dippers, which uses Subway's flatbread, rolled up with pepperoni and cheese, chicken and cheese or double cheese, and served hot. Plus, the nachos are a cost-efficient addition for Subway, which uses existing ingredients like bagged chips and fresh toppings that are already used in its sandwiches. Sidekicks and Dippers were born out of the chain seeing younger customers' preference for snacking, according to Douglas Fry, Subway's North America president, who previously told CNN that they want 'convenient, hand-held, grab-and-go' food at an affordable price. Restaurant chains have scrambled over the past year to attract customers who are fed up with high prices. Although some have succeeded with limited-time promotions, others like McDonald's, Chili's and Taco Bell have found more success offering value meals. Americans continue to be willing to spend — if they feel like they're getting good bang for their buck. Subway isn't exempt from that. Although the privately held company doesn't frequently release sales numbers, the chain resurrected its discounted footlong promotion in February, perhaps signaling it's also off to a sluggish start to the year along with its rivals. In recent years, Subway has added customization to its menu, doubled down on pushing orders to its app, increased its international presence and introduced freshly sliced meats — a major shift from Subway's previous method of delivering cold cuts pre-sliced.
Telegraph
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
BBC's farewell to England men's rugby a reminder of what they do well... and badly
The last England Six Nations match on BBC for five years at least was both a fitting (temporary?) farewell and an encapsulation of some of the strengths and weaknesses of the corporation's rugby on TV. A new deal sees ITV and BBC secure free-to-air coverage until the 2029 tournament but it is ITV alone that will show the England games. Rugby lovers are not thick on the ground in BBC Sport's decision-making roles and the shot-callers there have evidently decided that resources financial and political are better spent elsewhere than on pricey England men's games. Continuing to show Wales and Scotland matches keeps those vocal regional lobbies quiet enough, ditto ongoing live coverage of the Women's Six Nations thanks to Auntie's glorious triumph in what one assumes was a hard-fought three-figure bidding war. ITV, while not necessarily a natural home for rugby, has done very well out of the deal with all five England matches each year. England rugby fans, however, have not and are left for half a decade to the tender mercies of a broadcaster that bungles the crucial moments of a key match (Finn Russell's kick) and serves up the chippy mutterings of Eddie Jones and his Smurf hat in between the frequent adverts. The build-up to Saturday's match in Cardiff was a snapshot of the BBC's situation. Gabby Logan, sure-footed as ever, expertly handled a smart pair of classy communicators in Sam Warburton and John Barclay, who had lots of interesting yet accessible things to say about topics as diverse as England's tactical vulnerability to wide attacks and Tom Curry's ferocious appetite for pain. Martin Johnson's medals and gravitas justify his selection in the Grumpy Uncle role – the former England captain, for instance, remarking of an anticipated Welsh tactic to target the England No 15 with high kicks: 'Well, you'd do it to a full-back even if he's good.' A nice boost for Marcus Smith there from the big man. Imagine taking your dog for a walk and @samwarburton_ randomly rugby tackling you. 😅 #SixNations #BBCRugby — BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 15, 2025 The pre-match programming managed to stoke up the excitement while also outlining some broad tactical or sporting points but also highlighted the probably unsolvable problem for rugby on the BBC: trying to be all things to all persons. Gabby said: 'We don't need to hype this one up but we'll do it anyway' and the montage began. Classic Eddie Butler territory, England in Cardiff. You don't need to reinvent the wheel here: just get a stirring tune, bombastic voiceover, men in sideburns, daffodils, choirs, possibly a few miners if you're really committing to the bit, 1970s glory days, 2013 and all the rest. A little hacky, a little cliched, but it always hit the spot and the classics are the classics for a reason. On Saturday, the montage began with silence and a title card of ' Y Maestro ' as famous Welsh conductor Haydn James raised his baton to bring a male voice choir of boyos under starter's orders. Off we go, bit of singing, there's lovely. But after no more than a second or two, it suddenly cut to rave music and highlight clips that came so thick and fast you could hardly see what was happening, then back to the choir, then more pumping music and manic bits of match footage. And on and on. The overall effect was like trying to watch TV with a hyperactive child who had got hold of both the remote and a bin-bag of Haribo. I just cannot see to whom this appeals on aesthetic grounds or sporting grounds and can only conclude it represents yet more well-meaning but misguided efforts to seduce a putative 'yoof' audience, as yet untapped, that will miraculously become devotees of the oval-ball code if only they could have it piped into their face-holes alongside a high-NRG soundtrack. With the best will in the world, I honestly don't ever see that working but, in terms of the England men's team at least, it is no longer the BBC's problem.
