Gertrude Stein
www.wikipedia.org/Gertrude_Stein

I first heard of Gertrude while attending a freshman English class at Syracuse University.  When I transferred the next year to the University of Oklahoma Bruce Goff talked about the “continuous present” of Stein.  I accumulated just about all of her books and books about her.    

I liked her gaiety and optimism as well as her inquiries into the conscious - subconscious gradient. Stein had studied under William James and had examined the brain while at Johns Hopkins. I consider her among the geniuses of her time and drew inspiration from her work. I did get tired of her ego but one has to remember that she was born in 1876 long before the ego became less romanticized.

Stein's composition on a continuous present has been an influence on me as I began to read Stein's The Selected writing of Gerture Stein late in college.