On Three Lives' Creative Techniques

Three Lives (1909) lays the foundation of Gertrude Stein's stepping away from the literature of the 19th century and into the one of the 20th century. Most of critics have criticized it from the angle of feminism, racism, class, psychology and lesbianism. As to its creative characteristics, most of them have noticed the language repetition. This thesis tries to explore the creative techniques of Three Lives and the particular aesthetic effects on the expression of words and the composition with the techniques. Applying simplification, collage and repetition to writing, Stein is doing with words on the writing surface what Post-impressionists are doing with paint. What she depicts with these techniques is the humble and hopeless life of women who live in poverty, race and gender discrimination.Chapter 1 discusses the technique of simplification in Three Lives. Stein uses simplification to depict the simple and abstract essence of life. The applying of simplification is embodied mainly in three aspects. (1) The simplified depiction of Bridgepoint presents us an unchangeable, dull and depressive world and the antagonism between classes as well as the background of the heroines'tragic fate. (2) The selection of time answers for the heroines'humble and insignificant identities and character, at the same time, it gains immortality with the neglect of physical time. (3) Stein uses simplification to open up the field of words experimentation in fresh ways. The simplified words endow the sentences with an objective atmosphere and stress the heroines'sorrowful fate. The applying of simplification also renews the meanings of the words.Chapter 2 focuses on the technique of collage employed in Three Lives. Impressed deeply by Cezanne's creating view that each part is as important as another part and the whole, Stein gets rid of plot which is the most important element in the traditional novel and adopts collage to compose Three Lives. Its significance will be: (1) the juxtaposition of the isolated details contributes to presenting the heroines'trivial and humble life in the atmosphere which has no primary and secondary sequences; (2) at the same time, the apparently isolated details in"The Good Anna"and"Melanctha"are correlated each other. Coming together to form a new whole, these details express the inevitability of the heroines'tragic fate. In"The Gentle Lena", the striking contrast between the details stresses Lena's miserable situation in the marriage.Chapter 3 analyzes another technique—repetition. There is endless the same and endless difference in endless repetition with which the humble and insignificant life of the lower class women is fully depicted. The technique of repetition is used in the following points. (1) She uses repetition to compose the whole collection so as to form a linear structure which develops from the beginning, the developing and the climax to the ending, and observe the heroines'tragic fate from different perspectives so as to depict the essence of the heroines'tragic fate as vividly as possible. (2) Repetition is also used to form the same content so as to emphasize the personality. (3) The repetition of language not only provides the text with a depressive atmosphere but also present an alienated world.In a word, simplification, collage and repetition in the novel bring Three Lives unique beauty and disclose well the tragic fate of women who live in the social bottom. Readers must read diligently and attentively so that they can appreciate its beauty. It will be helpful to interpret Three Lives and enrich the study on Three Lives as well as to make a further introduction of Gertrude Stein in China.