One of the novel's characters is named Lucy Church, a French to English pun, which Stein enjoyed making. She loved wordplay, although some of hers was corny. Lucy Church and some other people rent a house there, which had been occupied by a French naval officer. In fact, Stein moved into it after a lieutenant in the French army living there was sent off to Morocco. It's a highly abstract, nearly impenetrable work in which Stein deals with her own impressions of nature and personal relations.
Marble is frequently very like silver is frequently very like in vain.
Stein's work is lyrical despite the fact that she doesn't use a whole lot of adjectives to dress up nouns. To understand completely what Stein is trying to accomplish, especially after an initial exposure to her work, is extremely difficult. To enjoy her writing, even while being unable to grasp some of it, is within the ability of many readers. Harvey Pekar has written about jazz for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Jazz Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Boston Herald, and is a commentator for WKSU-FM in Kent, Ohio. Email this story to a friend Arts Headlines Writers' Deal Sealed HBO Debuts Sunday Hits Napster Allies with MusicNet More arts news Related Discussions Compare and contrast the work of Gertrude Stein and James Joyce.