This is the first paperback edition of one of Stein's most revealing novels. Wri
tten in 1925-26 (but not published until 1958), it is Stein's midcareer assessme
nt of herself, her writing, and her relationships, composed in the unique style
for which she is celebrated. In place of a traditional narrative, Stein explores
the nature of narrative, its possibilities, the various genres (historical nove
ls, the novel of manners, adventure stories) available to the writer, the conven
tions of novel-writing, and the novelist's relation to her materials. In a sense
, the novel is about "preparing a novel" (the subject of chap. 50), about everyt
hing that goes through a writer's head as she begins to write.
