Written in 1903, published in 1950 as Things as They Are
Adele, Helen Thomas, Mabel Neatheの三人の女の三角関係。Stein (Adele)とMary Bookstaver (Helen) 、Maryの恋人であったMabel Hayness (Mabel)の実際の三角関係を元にしているとされる。批評で最も注目されるのは、作品のレズビアニズムをSteinがThree Livesの"Melanctha" で黒人同士のヘテロな愛情のもつれに転換したこと。これ自体本当に面白いのだけれど、読んでいて特に驚いたのはSteinがいかにコンサバティズムというか、New England的家族のモラルに縛られていたかということかもしれない。From Adele to Helen: "YOu have a foolish notion that to be middle-class is to be vulgar, that to cherish the ideals of respectability and decency is to be commonplace and that to be the mother of children in to be low. . . I never seem to know how to keep still, but you both know already that I have the failing of my tribe" "I probably have the experience of all apostles, I am rejected by the class whose cause I preach but that has nothing to do with the case. I simply conted that the middle-class ideal which demands that people be affectionate, respectable, honest and content, that they avoid excitements and cultivate serenity is the ideal that appeal to me, it is in shor the ideal of affectionate family life, of honorable business methods" (180/ 181). "It's a queer game. . . coming as I do from a community where all no matter how much they may quarrel and disagree have strong family affection and great respect for the ties of blood, I find it difficult to realise" (190). "As for my instinct they have always been opposed to the indulgence of any feeling of passion. I suppose that is due to the Calvinistic influence that dominates American training and has interfered with my natural temperament. . . .my puritan instincts again and again say no and I get into a horrible mess. " (208) "She could not get rid of the feeling that she had stolen the property of another. . . She had a strong sense of the sanctity of money obligations. She recognized as paramount the necessary return for value received in all cash considerations." (212-13) あとはお金も。
こう考えると、Making of American--Alice Toklas がはじめてSteinの為にパリの彼らの家でタイプした作品--というのはとてもメランコリックで、なぜというに、失われたアメリカ性についての物語だから。あとは、最上級の消費者としてのStein（Autobiography of Alice B. Toklasの魅力はまさにそこにあるだろうし、"lost generation" とか "there is no there there" とか "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" とか人口に膾炙しやすいキャッチーなフレーズを考えつくことに関しては天才的なスタインはadmanみたいなもんなんだと思う）との関係も興味深い。
