what are masterpieces & composition as explanation
If everyone were not so indolent they would
realize that beauty is beauty even when it is irritating and stimulating
not only when it is accepted and classic."
Gertrude Stein spent as much time explaining her fiction and what made it
new and modern as she did writing it. What Are Masterpieces and
Composition as Explanation are two of her well-known attempts at explaining
not only her work, but also why people weren't giving it the recognition she
knew it deserved.
"For a very long time everybody refuses and then almost everybody without a
pause almost everybody accepts. ... When the acceptance comes, by that
acceptance the thing created becomes a classic. And what is the
characteristic quality of a classic. The characteristic quality of a
classic is that it is beautiful. ... Of course it is beautiful but first all beauty in it is denied and then all
the beauty of it is accepted.
