Gertrude Stein and Zionism

In contrast with other Jewish modernists, Gertrude Stein's relationship to Jewish concerns has been, until recently, little explored. No one has yet examined Stein's curious relationship to the Zionist movement or the text she wrote in response to Zionism's political agenda after World War I. Through a close reading of "The Reverie of the Zionist" (1920), this essay examines Stein's political and aesthetic response to Zionism. It places this response in a historical context, looking at Stein's personal ties to Zionism. It also considers the ways in which "Reverie" anticipates Stein's later ideas about nationalism and "the Jews" during the 1930s.