Alice B. Toklas was an American writer and a central figure within Paris's early 20th-century avant-garde scene. Serving as Gertrude Stein's confidante, lover, and companion, she became integral to the literary and artistic life of her era. Her own literary contributions, while often overshadowed by Stein's, offer a unique perspective on culture and Parisian life. Though often perceived as a background figure for much of her life, her influence on artistic circles was undeniable.
When Alice B. Toklas was asked to write a memoir, she initially refused. Instead, she wrote The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book, a sharply written, deliciously rich cookbook memorializing meals and recipes shared by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Wilder, Matisse, and Picasso. And of course by Alice and Gertrude themselves
The recipe book for foodies, practical cooks and gossips alike. The legendary Alice B. Toklas Cookbook is a collection of some of the brightest ideas for preparing delicious meals as well as a rich mine of stories about the best-known artists and writers living in mid-twentieth-century France.
If letter writing is a lost art, Staying on Alone is a measure of what has been lost. On tissue-thin paper in a tiny, often undecipherable hand, Alice Toklas described her daily life in Paris in absorbing detail, like a latter-day Madame de Sévigné. Here are shrewd, witty observations on some of the most interesting artists, musicians, and writers of the twentieth Thornton Wilder, Carl Van Vechten, Edith Sitwell, Anita Loos, Cecil Beaton, Janet Flanner, Bennett Cerf, among others. There are stories about Picasso, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Juan Gris, Cocteau, and Sartre--all revealing a sharp eye that was as much a part of Alice as her devotion to Gertrude and her passion for recipes and gardening. In preparing this collection, the editor has chosen letters of biographical, literary, and artistic significance to an understanding of Gertrude Stein and her circle, letters illustrating the catholicity of Alice Toklas's friendships and the quality of her gifts, and letters that simply delight for their gossip.