Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) was an American writer born to a wealthy family with strong ties to Germany. Living most of her adult life in Paris, Stein hosted "salons" where key art and literary figures met and discussed their work. In 1933, she published The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas - a book that gave a fascinating account of many of these key figures through the eyes of her life partner. Stein's literary innovations included her conscious use of repetition, and what she termed as "an excess of consciousness."
