Anneli Xie
Prof. Alice Friedman
ARTH 321: Gender, Sexuality, and the Design of Houses
2019/03/11
Prof. Alice Friedman
ARTH 321: Gender, Sexuality, and the Design of Houses
2019/03/11
Reading response:
Apartments and Studios: Expats, Queers and
Outsiders in Paris and New York
Examining the “lesbian
archipelago” or the “Left Bank lesbians” that existed in 1920s Paris, Alice
Friedman’s essay “Queer Old Things” tells the story of the American lesbian
couple, Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein, who lived together in Paris for
nearly four decades. Stein and Toklas prove an interesting juxtaposition to
last week’s readings and the discussion on where to draw the line between
romantic friendship and modern sexuality. In contrast to figures such as
Katharine Lee Bates and Katharine Coman, who remained very private about their
personal relationship – referring to each other as friends, yet revealing
intimacy that, to us, seems to go beyond the borders of friendship – Toklas and
Stein were well-aware of their image and legacy, which they perpetually created
and guarded. Considering the decidedly homophobic historical context
surrounding the two, the fact that they deliberately made their private lesbian
relationship a matter for public eyes was/is a very radical act. Toklas and
Stein modeled their relationship on that of husband and wife, in accordance
with the social conventions of the time; Gertrude was the “male genius,” and
Alice the wife. By queering the grammar of the social conventions at the time,
Toklas and Stein could create an archive in which the spotlight shone on them
as one of the most famous lesbian couples of their time.
In Friedman’s essay, 1920s Paris was “a space overlaid with avant-garde art and literature, […] but queer at its very core and in its heart,” (4) at the same time as it was highly homophobic. Ernest Hemingway is brought up as a hyper-masculine and hyper-heteronormative character, outspoken in his criticisms of the Stein-Toklas couple, angry that Alice had chosen to partner with Gertrude instead of him. Friedman suggests that while we have access to the Stein-Toklas archive, describing Paris as a lesbian utopia, getting other views (such as that of Hemingway) give us a better understanding of the “cluster of contested and volatile physical and psychic spaces.” (5) Existing outside of the mainstream culture, Alice and Gertrude’s way of life was inevitably an act of defiance, and as they became more recognizable, their public life and public displays came to relate to the act of queer performance / performativity.
Contrary to the monogamous Toklas and Stein was Janet Flanner, writer for The New Yorker. Flanner resisted the stereotype of the “u-haul lesbian,” as written about in Friedman’s essay “F the U-Haul.” Flanner opposed lesbian marriage, spending her life instead circulating amongst friends, lovers, and ex-lovers. Her “Letters from Paris,” give insight to the women in her circle and of Paris as a queer space, despite being written for The New Yorker and thus consumed by mostly middle-class and suburban readers, “for whom gay and lesbian life remained off-limits.” (91) Thus, Flanner had a double life of sorts, being both a writer for the American middle-class, but also being a part of the Left Bank Lesbians. Flanner was a friend of the Toklas-Stein couple and a part of a new generation of American ex-pats formulating Paris as a queer and avant-garde space. Interestingly, too, Flanner and her lover, Sita Solano, decided to live in a hotel instead of renting an apartment, and stayed at Hôtel Napoleon Bonaparte for 17 years. (97) The choice of hotel instead of apartment-living is interesting because it provided freedom and relative anonymity, keeping in mind that the publicity and performative public acts of Stein-Toklas were potentially dangerous for the two, considering the environment that surrounded the couple. It wasn’t until Flanner was 83 that she left Paris (for New York) and let down her guard; Friedman arguing that her old age allowed her to finally “enjoy the daily rhythms of life with a lesbian lover on her own terms [… and] finally remove her masks and be at once a famous writer and a queer old thing.”
Another queer archipelago, evocative of that of 1920s Paris, can be found in New York City. In Friedman’s essay “Max Ewing’s Closet and Queer Architectural History,” Friedman examines Ewing’s closet as a poker-face of queerness and a tool for challenging and queering our historical narrative and our assumptions. The dressing room acted as a 3D scrap book, containing photos, clippings, and snapshots of people and things that Ewing admired. Whereas the idea of being “closeted” or “coming out of the closet” did not exist during Ewing’s time, the closet still acts as a highly intimate interior space that was shielded and hidden from the outside world, and only shown to those who made it inside his apartment. Friedman writes that the exterior of Ewing’s residential building “turned an anonymous poker face – a respectable mask and a screen – to the city, confronting an increasingly homophobic and surveillant society with a handsome but opaque Beaux-Arts facade.” Similarly to Toklas-Stein and Flanner’s archives of Paris as a lesbian archipelago, Ewing’s closet gives insight to New York City as a queer space, and thereby adding a new narrative to the city.
Friedman, Alice. “F the Uhaul: Janet Flanner’s Paris and Varieties of Lesbian Domesticity.” In Sexuality and Gender at Home, edited by Brent Pilkey. Oxford: Routledge Press, 2018.
Friedman, Alice “Max Ewing’s Closet and Queer Architectural History,” Platform. platformspace.net
Friedman, Alice. “Queer Old Things.” in Places. https://placesjournal.org/article/queer-old-things/?cn-reloaded=1
In Friedman’s essay, 1920s Paris was “a space overlaid with avant-garde art and literature, […] but queer at its very core and in its heart,” (4) at the same time as it was highly homophobic. Ernest Hemingway is brought up as a hyper-masculine and hyper-heteronormative character, outspoken in his criticisms of the Stein-Toklas couple, angry that Alice had chosen to partner with Gertrude instead of him. Friedman suggests that while we have access to the Stein-Toklas archive, describing Paris as a lesbian utopia, getting other views (such as that of Hemingway) give us a better understanding of the “cluster of contested and volatile physical and psychic spaces.” (5) Existing outside of the mainstream culture, Alice and Gertrude’s way of life was inevitably an act of defiance, and as they became more recognizable, their public life and public displays came to relate to the act of queer performance / performativity.
Contrary to the monogamous Toklas and Stein was Janet Flanner, writer for The New Yorker. Flanner resisted the stereotype of the “u-haul lesbian,” as written about in Friedman’s essay “F the U-Haul.” Flanner opposed lesbian marriage, spending her life instead circulating amongst friends, lovers, and ex-lovers. Her “Letters from Paris,” give insight to the women in her circle and of Paris as a queer space, despite being written for The New Yorker and thus consumed by mostly middle-class and suburban readers, “for whom gay and lesbian life remained off-limits.” (91) Thus, Flanner had a double life of sorts, being both a writer for the American middle-class, but also being a part of the Left Bank Lesbians. Flanner was a friend of the Toklas-Stein couple and a part of a new generation of American ex-pats formulating Paris as a queer and avant-garde space. Interestingly, too, Flanner and her lover, Sita Solano, decided to live in a hotel instead of renting an apartment, and stayed at Hôtel Napoleon Bonaparte for 17 years. (97) The choice of hotel instead of apartment-living is interesting because it provided freedom and relative anonymity, keeping in mind that the publicity and performative public acts of Stein-Toklas were potentially dangerous for the two, considering the environment that surrounded the couple. It wasn’t until Flanner was 83 that she left Paris (for New York) and let down her guard; Friedman arguing that her old age allowed her to finally “enjoy the daily rhythms of life with a lesbian lover on her own terms [… and] finally remove her masks and be at once a famous writer and a queer old thing.”
Another queer archipelago, evocative of that of 1920s Paris, can be found in New York City. In Friedman’s essay “Max Ewing’s Closet and Queer Architectural History,” Friedman examines Ewing’s closet as a poker-face of queerness and a tool for challenging and queering our historical narrative and our assumptions. The dressing room acted as a 3D scrap book, containing photos, clippings, and snapshots of people and things that Ewing admired. Whereas the idea of being “closeted” or “coming out of the closet” did not exist during Ewing’s time, the closet still acts as a highly intimate interior space that was shielded and hidden from the outside world, and only shown to those who made it inside his apartment. Friedman writes that the exterior of Ewing’s residential building “turned an anonymous poker face – a respectable mask and a screen – to the city, confronting an increasingly homophobic and surveillant society with a handsome but opaque Beaux-Arts facade.” Similarly to Toklas-Stein and Flanner’s archives of Paris as a lesbian archipelago, Ewing’s closet gives insight to New York City as a queer space, and thereby adding a new narrative to the city.
References
Friedman, Alice “Max Ewing’s Closet and Queer Architectural History,” Platform. platformspace.net
Friedman, Alice. “Queer Old Things.” in Places. https://placesjournal.org/article/queer-old-things/?cn-reloaded=1