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Title: Three Lives (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Gertrude Stein, Ann Charters ISBN: 0-14-018184-9 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.29 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Difficult, but worth the effort
Comment: Returning to THREE LIVES after several years, I am again reminded of Stein's stylistic innovation and topical audacity. These are stories of working class women, one African American and two whose European heritage is still marked as "ethnic", who live with modest hopes and even more modest contentment. Watching Stein imagine a narrative voice to these women of spotty education and limited worldview is itself important. This is not the stream-of-consciousness of Joyce or Faulkner, but rather a subject-verb-predicate world of simple people. That Stein can reflect emotional complexity and intellectual anxiety with a style that would seem well-suited to a reading primer speaks not only of her ability, but indeed might undercut the utility of more affected literary devices. Stein is forging into then largely ignored life and so it should come as no suprise that this book doesn't appeal to most. But there is something here that merits our attention
Rating: 2
Summary: obscurantism masquerading as avant-garde
Comment: The trouble with the avant-garde is that they set themselves up to say that anyone who doesn't like what they do is, well, totally square. At the same time, those who convince themselves that they appreciate it in the correct way can lord it over the rest of us naifs.
After having heard about this book for years from a dear Stein-devotee pal, I gave it a try. I must say that, not only was I disappointed in the so-called language experimentation, but I was just plain bored. I did not find the characters interesting; I did not get taken into their world view by the stream-of-consciousness writing style that is Stein's trademark; I did not feel like I learned anything. What truly convinced my pal that I am an artistic philistine - and I guess I am in her measure - is that I vastly preferred The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas, which was written for a popular audience (this is, clearly written and not with all the obscure and in my view idioitic word play).
Oh well, this review will no doubt get many "unhelpful" votes, but then, at least I looked at it honestly and and naively and gave it the effort an avant-garde classic deserves. NOT RECOMMENDED.
Rating: 5
Summary: Language as never before (or after)
Comment: read the other reviews and youll be surprised by the violent reactions of people to this book. richard wright, black activist and author, praised this book as the "first true representation of an african-american in american literature" and yet another famous activist labeled it "senseless racist drivel"
What in the book provokes this controversy?
The question is complex. Though Stein in all three stories uses words like "black" and"german" as undeniable stereotypes, there is no denying that these categories get deconstructed by the narrative and the style.
If your read books for style, you cant go wrong here. Stein's experimental prose is poetry set to music, exploring all the auditory limits of the english language.
There are 3 stories, The Good Anna, Melanctha and The Gentle Lena.
The controversy is mainly about the second story. Not that the other stories dont have their issues. Eg: The Gentle Lena is probably one of the weirdest characters you will EVER see in fiction.
So, buy this book and treat yourself to some pleasure in the english language!
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Title: Cane by Jean Toomer, Darwin T. Turner ISBN: 0393956008 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $10.65 |
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Title: Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein ISBN: 0486298973 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 30 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: The Professor's House (Vintage Classic) by Willa Cather ISBN: 0679731806 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 31 October, 1990 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, T. S. Eliot ISBN: 0811200051 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: February, 1988 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Quicksand and Passing (American Women Writers Series) by Nella Larsen, Deborah McDowell ISBN: 0813511704 Publisher: Rutgers University Press Pub. Date: April, 1986 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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