Three Lives

Three Lives was written in 1905/06 and published in 1909 at the author’s expense. The work consists of three independent novellas: The Good Anna, Melanctha, and The Gentle Lena. Each of the titular characters lives in Bridgepoint, a fictional town based on Baltimore. The Good Anna explores the life of strong-willed Anna Federner, a woman of “solid lower middle-class south German stock.” The story follows the relationships Anna develops with the women in the households in which she works as a servant, and explores in particular the theme of bonding between women. Melanctha is an unconventional novella in which Stein explores what it is to seek meaning and fulfillment amidst the complexities and challenges of life. Melanctha, the daughter of a black father and a mixed-race mother, is unsatisfied with her life in segregated Bridgepoint. She launches into a passionate search for knowledge and power, within complicated cross-currents of race, sex and gender. The Gentle Lena recounts the lif