The Enigma of Gertrude Stein (thenation.com)

A review of Francesca Wade’s biography argues that Gertrude Stein’s continuing difficulty is part of her greatness and part of why readers misread her. It traces how Stein crafted a public self through autobiographical storytelling while simultaneously hiding personal gaps that Wade fills via archives and unpublished material. The piece also highlights controversies—such as Stein’s early love triangle manuscript and her wartime ties to Bernard Fäy—and suggests that Stein’s legend is best understood as a tension between lived fact, self-fashioning, and after-the-fact reputation.