The Making of Americans (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Gertrude Stein
- First Published: 1925
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: Late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Impressionistic literature, Autobiographical fiction, Satire
- Subjects: Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, Marriage, Class consciousness, American Dream, California, West, U.S., Ethnic groups, Ethnic relations, Business or business people, Ambition, Existentialism
- Locales: Baltimore, MD, Bridgepoint (fictive), Gossols (fictive)
Places Discussed
Gossols. Town in the western United States that is home to the Herslands, one of the novel’s two central families. Stein wanted to establish a basic difference between the places where the two families were primarily located, contrasting East and West, coastal city and heartland settlement, old European culture and developing American social values. The Herslands are described as “really western,” since David Hersland as a young man had gone far into new country. A sense of community is conveyed by Stein’s description of the people from Gossols picking...
[The entire page is 1338 words long]
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