Gertrude Stein

Three Lives (1909) by Gertrude Stein

Three Lives (1909) was American writer Gertrude Stein's first published book. The book is separated into three stories, "The Good Anna", "Melanctha", and "The Gentle Lena". The three stories are independent of each other, but all are set in Bridgepoint, a fictional town based on Baltimore."The Good Anna", the first of Gertrude Stein's Three Lives, is a novella set in "Bridgepoint" about Anna Federner, a servant of "solid lower middle-class south german stock". Part I describes Anna's happy life as housekeeper for Miss Mathilda and her difficulties with unreliable under servants and "stray dogs and cats". She loves her "regular dogs": Baby, an old, blind, terrier; "bad Peter," loud and cowardly; and "the fluffy little Rags." Anna is the undisputed authority in the household, and in her five years with Miss Mathilda she oversees in turn four under servants: Lizzie, Molly, Katy, and Sallie. Sometimes even the lazy and benign Miss Mathilda feels rebellious under Anna's iron hand; she is also concerned because Anna is always giving away money, and tries to protect her from her many poor friends.