거르트루드 스타인의 글쓰기-『부드러운 단추들』을 중심으로

Abstract

Gertrude Stein's theme is composition itself as W. C. Williams says. Her composition can be characterized as presenting portraits of beingness of objects at the present without any intention to describe or represent objects. Through presentation of portraits of beingness, she excavates the inner rhythm of beingness of objects. Her faithful records of the rhythm justify her preferences to verbs and adverbs modifying activities, especially the present participles that could register the movement of beingness in the continuous present. To present portraits of beingness inevitably demands a new language taking the place of the language of representation. Regarding language as a recreation of objects in words, Stein invents a new mode of language that presents objects as outlets through which claims of beingness of objects are made. To bear witness to this language of beingness of objects, she adopts a strategy of composition to put words and movements of beingness of objects side by side. She maintains that exhaustive adding up of words to catch up the movements will make the portraits of objects emerge. To achieve this, she lets her "word-man" lead her composition. Composition that Stein's 'word-man' writes is a centrifugal writing characterized by metonymic associations and supplementary connotations, characteristics of a writing of the signifiers as a pure writing unburdened with sense and logic. Composition written by 'word-man' itself already explains beingness of objects. No more explication for the mode of beingness would be necessary.