A Description of Acquaintance: The Letters of Laura Riding and Gertrude Stein, 1927-1930 (Recencies Series: Research and Recovery in Twentieth-Century American Poetics)

By: Logan Esdale and Jane Malcolm

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Synopsis: Gertrude Stein and Laura Riding enjoyed a fascinating if brief three-year friendship via correspondence between 1927 and 1930, and in A Description of Acquaintance, Logan Esdale and Jane Malcolm make the letters available to a larger audience for the first time. Riding and Stein are important figures in twentieth-century poetry and poetics and are considered progenitors of later movements such as L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry. The editors contextualize their relationship and its time period with an introduction; annotations to the letters; and supplementary materials, including pieces by Stein and Riding that exemplify their singular perspectives on modernism as well as their personal poetics. The book provides unique insight into Stein&’s and Riding&’s writing processes as well as the larger literary world around them, making it a must-read for anyone interested in twentieth-century poetry.