Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena
1909
Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena
1909
Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena, published in 1909, is Gertrude Stein's first book and features three independent narratives centered on the lives of working-class women in the fictional town of Bridgepoint. The stories focus on Anna, a dutiful servant; Melanctha, a sensitive black girl; and Lena, a gentle maid, exploring themes of love, duty, and self-identity. Stein's accessible prose offers a glimpse into the complexities of human relationships and the struggles of ordinary women, making this work notable for its early representation of female experiences in literature.
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“You look ridiculous if you danceYou look ridiculous if you don't danceSo you might as welldance.””
— Gertrude Stein
“You look ridiculous if you dance. You look ridiculous if you don't dance. So you might as well dance.””
— Gertrude Stein
“Para uma irlandesa, os Kreder eram um casal avarento e porco. Não tinha a imundície franca, instintiva, combativa, enlameada e maltrapilha que Mary conhecia e podia perdoar e amar. A deles era a imundície alemã da economia, de ser desleixado com o que vestia para poupar as roupas, de economizar nos banhos, de deixar o cabelo oleoso para poupar sabonete e toalhas, de ter as roupas sujas não por opção, as porque era mais barato, de manter a casa fechada e abafada para não gastar com aquecimento, de viver miseravelmente não apenas para economizar dinheiro, mas até para esquecer que o possuíam, trabalhando sem parar não só porque era de sua natureza ou porque precisavam disso, mas porque lhes trazia dinheiro e porque assim evitavam as situações em que podiam gastá-lo.””
— Gertrude Stein
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Stein, Gertrude. Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena. Lex, lex-books.com/book/three-lives-stories-of-the-good-anna-melanctha-and-the-gentle-lena-bc645a36-7d7a-474a-acbd-d07286fc7b14.Stein, G. (1909). Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/three-lives-stories-of-the-good-anna-melanctha-and-the-gentle-lena-bc645a36-7d7a-474a-acbd-d07286fc7b14Stein, Gertrude. Three Lives: Stories of the Good Anna, Melanctha and the Gentle Lena. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/three-lives-stories-of-the-good-anna-melanctha-and-the-gentle-lena-bc645a36-7d7a-474a-acbd-d07286fc7b14.





