Three Lives - Softcover

Gertrude Stein

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1595690425 ISBN 13: 9781595690425

Publisher: Mondial, 2007

Synopsis

"Three Lives" - three short stories by Gertrude Stein - has had a curious history. First published in 1909 by the Grafton Press, this book of short stories has consistently maintained a striking underground reputation. "Three Lives" is an astonishing masterpiece when one considers that it was its author's first book. Reasonably enough, considering Gertrude Stein's subsequent association with painters, the book is imbued with the influence of Cézanne more than with that of any literary forerunner. The subject matter, two servant girls and an unhappy afro-american girl, is similar to the subject matter of the realists, Zola and Flaubert, but so different is the treatment that any question of influence may be immediately dismissed. Nothing in this writing is extraneous: every detail represents the whole and is essential to it. If we cannot look back of Miss Stein and find a literary ancestor, it is easy to look forward: a vast sea of writers seems to be swimming in the inspiration derived from this prose. (Carl Van Vechten)

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Consists of three character studies of women; "The Good Anna"--a kind but domineering German servingwoman; "Melanctha"--an uneducated but sensitive black girl; "The Gentle Lena"--a pathetically feebleminded young German maid.

From the Back Cover:

In these three stories, Gertrude Stein put into practice certain theories about prose composition that paralleled the ideas expressed in the art of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mondial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1595690425
• ISBN 13: 9781595690425
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204
• Editor: Andrew Moore