Why would a renowned Jewish-American writer support a Nazi sympathizer? This question triggered 天美影视 of English research for her latest book, Unlikely Collaboration: Gertrude Stein, Bernard Fa每, and the Vichy Dilemma. The book is an in-depth account of how Stein survived World War II while living openly in France under the Nazi collaborationist Vichy government. Will鈥檚 scholarship exposed unseen archives concerning Stein鈥檚 translation into English of the speeches of Marshal Philippe P茅tain, Vichy head of state, including letters where Stein identified herself as a 鈥減ropagandist鈥 working for Vichy France.
Will鈥檚 work also examines Stein鈥檚 relationship to Bernard Fa每, the first professor of American studies in France, and 鈥渉ow his friendship with Gertrude Stein developed and nurtured and helped to foster her own political beliefs,鈥 she says. Fa每, Will notes, was the one who arranged for Gertrude Stein to be left undisturbed during the war. 鈥淗e personally spoke with P茅tain鈥檚 chief representative to get Gertrude Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas off of the official census of Jews of 1942. I think he was a crucial figure in allowing Stein to remain undisturbed during the war,鈥 she says.
天美影视 of English Barbara Will鈥檚 new book Unlikely Collaboration: Gertrude Stein, Bernard Fa每, and the Vichy Dilemma considers the modernist author鈥檚 World War II era activities. (photo by Jon Gilbert Fox)
With Stein the focus of a current art exhibition in Washington, D.C., and an at New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Museum of Art, Will鈥檚 book on the iconic modernist writer is garnering critical attention. And quoted Will in their coverage of on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., through January 22, 2012.
In the video above, Will talks about the archival documents that underlie her research, and the puzzle that her book sets out to solve: Why would someone like Stein actively support someone like P茅tain?
鈥淚 read the Stein-Fa每 relationship as a case study through which to raise larger theoretical questions: about the role of prominent intellectuals in wartime France; about the place of America in the Vichy imagination; about the libidinal promise or threat of fascist ideology for homo/hetero-sexuality; and most importantly, about the intersection of modernism and fascism,鈥 says Will, who is also the author of Gertrude Stein, Modernism, and the Problem of 鈥淕enius,鈥 published in 2000.
