A Jewish, openly lesbian, avant-garde intellectual living in Nazi-occupied France, with a Paris apartment full of banned modern art, somehow survived untouched. That paradox is one of many in the life of Gertrude Stein, who reinvented how a generation saw language, art, and identity.

This deep dive follows Stein from a free-range California childhood through psychology experiments with William James and a deliberate rejection of medical school and Victorian norms. It explores the legendary salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus, her cubism-inspired writing, her surprise bestseller written in Alice B. Toklas's voice, and the morally complicated protection that kept her alive during the war.

• Applying Cezanne's equality of the canvas to language
• The Saturday-night salon that birthed the "lost generation"
• Splitting with brother L ...