Stein on the noun

from "Poetry and Grammar":

"A noun is a name of anything, why after a thing is named write about it. A name is adequate or it is not ... things once they are named does not go on doing anything to them and so why write in nouns. Nouns are the name of anything and just naming names is alright when you want to call a roll but is it good for anything else."

["Poetry and Grammar" appeared in Lectures in America (1935) and has republished by Beacon in 1985.]