Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
A Long Gay Book (1933)
The opening section discusses reasons why people have children. Miss Stein surmises that all babies arrive as vulnerable and powerless beings. As adults they realise that they were once powerless, so have children as a way of compensating, and demonstrating that they are now adults.
She then argues that twos and threes move more quickly – so are gayer – than singles. This evolves into a discussion of personalities, and leads to a new way of perceiving the world, as a stream of newly-experienced consciousness in the final section.
Miss Stein’s punctuation is minimal.
I’m not at all sure how to categorise this work. It could be a story, an essay or a prose-poem.
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