Here is where the Gertrude Stein quote ends

Published on Friday, April 02, 2010
Last updated on 05:04PM, Friday, April 2, 2010
A public sculture on the Berkeley/Oakland border that stands up to the famous Stein misquote.

A public sculture on the Berkeley/Oakland border that stands up to the famous Stein misquote.

“There is no there, there.”

I’m gonna kill that quote. I’m gonna set that quote on fire.

I’m gonna strangle that quote. I’m gonna hurt that quote because it is a misquote. Wrong subject. Wrong meaning.
That quote don’t deserve to live. It’s been used far too long as a shorthand for damaged goods, a mess of things.

The author never intended to use it the way everyone says. She was talking about her childhood home. But that author is very famous. Very. And all her words were thought of as clever and perfect.

And so, years and decades after Gertrude Stein described what it was like to see her Oakland childhood house no longer around, she uttered those words. “There is no there, there.”

Somehow, those words from Stein were misconstrued. The quote became a way to sum up Oakland.

Now authors, writers, artists, a hell of a lot of folks, take Stein’s words about her old home to be about Oakland. And yet it was not. But now it is. Or almost everyone thinks it is.

That quote is not the city I know. The city I know has a deep history and a national presence in the arts and politics of this country. I’m not buying it and I don’t believe it.

So, I’m gonna kill that quote. Stomp Stein’s words to the ground. Because it is not true. And I have loads of civic pride that tells me to stand up, take aim and kill that quote. There, I’ve said it.


Jennifer Inez Ward is the founding member of KillQuote. http://oaklandscene.blogspot.com/


About Jennifer Inez Ward
A writer and photographer, Jennifer Inez Ward has been documenting Oakland neighborhoods for more than 10 years. A graduate of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, she focuses on the uniqueness and beauty of everyday life in a city that is too often overlooked for its treasures and pleasures. Throughout the years, Jennifer has had the honor of showcasing her work at a number of venues, including a permanent loan of images that are displayed on the front wall of Barnes and Nobel in Jack London Square. Jennifer is a featured artist documented in “Images of America: Black Artists in Oakland."
Amy Gahran commented at Fri, 2 Apr at 12:28pm

Here Here!!

 

:-)

Rowan commented at Fri, 2 Apr at 11:26pm

I think your wrong!  I think it is wrong to get rid of something you don’t understand.  Gertrude Stein had nothing bad to say about Oakland and as far as I know she like living in Oakland.  I think in this newer generation it is out with the old and in with the new, without any respect for the people who gave Oakland some character.  Maybe you should understand Steins writing and what she worked hard to achieve because then you might understand she changed and influenced many writers and poets in the 20th century, even today.  Oakland should cherish this connection and even embrace it.  And just because people misquoted her doesn’t mean Oakland should erase her from their history book.  Maybe you need to find a book about Stein’s techniques in her writing and maybe then, you would be pleasantly surprised to see it being used today.  Rowan

Emilie Raguso commented at Fri, 2 Apr at 11:54pm

From Against the Grain, this recent radio show also had something to say about Stein's quote. Description: Gertrude Stein famously said of Oakland, "There is no there there." Scholar Chris Rhomberg would beg to differ; he's written a history of social movements in the East Bay metropolis that encompasses the rise of the Klan in the 1920s, the Oakland general strike of 1946, and the explosion of the Black Panthers in the 1960s. Listen here.