This was a paper presented in "The Other Detective II Panel" at PAMLA, November 1, 2013.
ABSTR... more This was a paper presented in "The Other Detective II Panel" at PAMLA, November 1, 2013.
ABSTRACT: In the 1980’s Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas became the titular characters of a short-lived mystery series penned by their longtime friend Samuel M. Steward. In both "Murder is Murder is Murder" (1985) and "The Caravaggio Shawl" (1989), Stein and Toklas find themselves implicated in a series of baffling situations and circumstances which they decide to try and solve themselves, particularly after watching the cases be mishandled by the police. It is a role both women initially relish, with Stein announcing with characteristic linguistic bravado in "The Caravaggio Shawl" that “together we two that is Alice and I will find the murderer” because “I have read hundreds of mystères and I know how a criminal’s mind works as well as a detective’s, and I like detectiving almost as much as writing, and have had some success at both.” But as non-professionals, as middle-aged Jewish women, as artists, as Americans citizens in France, and as a lesbian couple they encounter a seemingly endless series of obstacles that seem to systematically prevent them from solving their cases. Detectives have always served as marginalized individuals operating in liminal social and moral spaces, of course, but in Stein and Toklas’s particular circumstances the position of “otherness” traditionally associated with the detective figure becomes particularly pronounced.
An unapologetically “against the grain" reading of "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and the subseque... more An unapologetically “against the grain" reading of "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and the subsequent film adaptation that explores the inadvertent queer resonances embedded within the film. Topics covered include the queer origins of the vampire figure, the "cult of beauty" tradition, the "sad young man" trope, the ambiguous star-text of Robert Pattinson, and gay male spectatorship.
Published in "Interpretations," San Francisco State University's MA Literature program's annual p... more Published in "Interpretations," San Francisco State University's MA Literature program's annual peer-reviewed journal (Vol. 25, 2013).
This was a paper presented in "The Other Detective II Panel" at PAMLA, November 1, 2013.
ABSTR... more This was a paper presented in "The Other Detective II Panel" at PAMLA, November 1, 2013.
ABSTRACT: In the 1980’s Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas became the titular characters of a short-lived mystery series penned by their longtime friend Samuel M. Steward. In both "Murder is Murder is Murder" (1985) and "The Caravaggio Shawl" (1989), Stein and Toklas find themselves implicated in a series of baffling situations and circumstances which they decide to try and solve themselves, particularly after watching the cases be mishandled by the police. It is a role both women initially relish, with Stein announcing with characteristic linguistic bravado in "The Caravaggio Shawl" that “together we two that is Alice and I will find the murderer” because “I have read hundreds of mystères and I know how a criminal’s mind works as well as a detective’s, and I like detectiving almost as much as writing, and have had some success at both.” But as non-professionals, as middle-aged Jewish women, as artists, as Americans citizens in France, and as a lesbian couple they encounter a seemingly endless series of obstacles that seem to systematically prevent them from solving their cases. Detectives have always served as marginalized individuals operating in liminal social and moral spaces, of course, but in Stein and Toklas’s particular circumstances the position of “otherness” traditionally associated with the detective figure becomes particularly pronounced.
An unapologetically “against the grain" reading of "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and the subseque... more An unapologetically “against the grain" reading of "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and the subsequent film adaptation that explores the inadvertent queer resonances embedded within the film. Topics covered include the queer origins of the vampire figure, the "cult of beauty" tradition, the "sad young man" trope, the ambiguous star-text of Robert Pattinson, and gay male spectatorship.
Published in "Interpretations," San Francisco State University's MA Literature program's annual p... more Published in "Interpretations," San Francisco State University's MA Literature program's annual peer-reviewed journal (Vol. 25, 2013).
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ABSTRACT: In the 1980’s Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas became the titular characters of a short-lived mystery series penned by their longtime friend Samuel M. Steward. In both "Murder is Murder is Murder" (1985) and "The Caravaggio Shawl" (1989), Stein and Toklas find themselves implicated in a series of baffling situations and circumstances which they decide to try and solve themselves, particularly after watching the cases be mishandled by the police. It is a role both women initially relish, with Stein announcing with characteristic linguistic bravado in "The Caravaggio Shawl" that “together we two that is Alice and I will find the murderer” because “I have read hundreds of mystères and I know how a criminal’s mind works as well as a detective’s, and I like detectiving almost as much as writing, and have had some success at both.” But as non-professionals, as middle-aged Jewish women, as artists, as Americans citizens in France, and as a lesbian couple they encounter a seemingly endless series of obstacles that seem to systematically prevent them from solving their cases. Detectives have always served as marginalized individuals operating in liminal social and moral spaces, of course, but in Stein and Toklas’s particular circumstances the position of “otherness” traditionally associated with the detective figure becomes particularly pronounced.
ABSTRACT: In the 1980’s Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas became the titular characters of a short-lived mystery series penned by their longtime friend Samuel M. Steward. In both "Murder is Murder is Murder" (1985) and "The Caravaggio Shawl" (1989), Stein and Toklas find themselves implicated in a series of baffling situations and circumstances which they decide to try and solve themselves, particularly after watching the cases be mishandled by the police. It is a role both women initially relish, with Stein announcing with characteristic linguistic bravado in "The Caravaggio Shawl" that “together we two that is Alice and I will find the murderer” because “I have read hundreds of mystères and I know how a criminal’s mind works as well as a detective’s, and I like detectiving almost as much as writing, and have had some success at both.” But as non-professionals, as middle-aged Jewish women, as artists, as Americans citizens in France, and as a lesbian couple they encounter a seemingly endless series of obstacles that seem to systematically prevent them from solving their cases. Detectives have always served as marginalized individuals operating in liminal social and moral spaces, of course, but in Stein and Toklas’s particular circumstances the position of “otherness” traditionally associated with the detective figure becomes particularly pronounced.