The Imprint of Williams James on Gertrude Stein in Three Lives.docVIP

The Imprint of Williams James on Gertrude Stein in Three Lives 　　【Abstract】Gertrude Stein is regarded as one of the most remarkable writers of the twentieth century. This paper tries to analyze her early work Three Lives under the influence of Williams James from the aspect of Jamesian psychology analysis and the famous prolonged present to conclude that Gertrude Stein is undeniably unorthodox. 　　【Key words】Three Lives； Jamesian；Prolonged present 　　Gertrude Stein is regarded as one of the most remarkable writers of the twentieth century. Reacting against the naturalistic conventions of nineteenth-century fiction， she developed an abstract manner of expression that was a counterpart in language to the work of the Post-impressionists. Her radical approach was admired and emulated by other authors of her era， including Ernest Hemingway， Thornton Wilder and Sherwood Anderson， and served as a key inspiration for many modernist writers. 　　Three Lives is described as Gertrude Stein’s first experimental work. The publication of this first of Stein’s works established her position as a master of the English language and expositor of the twentieth-century woman. But most often than not， the first touch of the novel will make reader hard to go on with it， for the various kinds of experimenting writings are used in this not-long novel. As a result， Stein is regarded eccentric. Stein tries many innovative ways of writing in Three Lives， including episodic structure， the motivated repetition， the famous prolonged present， etc. The present paper will focus on the experimental writing techniques in Three Lives under the influence of Williams James. 　　Three Lives and Williams James 　　Gertrude Stein met William James in 1893， when she took his introductory philosophy course at Harvard. James shared the lecturing with two other professors. He led the unit on psychology， assigning a newly condensed version of his Principles of Psychology. Before graduating， Stein enrolled in