Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 296-308). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Diss. : Universität Duisburg-Essen, Allemagne : 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 129-142.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1981. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 288-300).

Diss.--Fachbereich Angewandte Sprachwissenschaft--Mainz--Johannnes Gutenberg-Universität, 1991.

Proefschrift--Nijmegen--Katholieke universiteit, 2002. / Résumé et curriculum vitae de l'auteur en néerlandais. Bibliogr. p. 405-415.

Texte remanié de: Thesis Ph. D.--St. Louis, Mo.--Washington university. / Bibliogr. p. 167-177. Index.

Since its publication in 1914, readings of Tender Buttons have often found their interpretive anchor in the person of Gertrude Stein. Due in part to Stein’s enigmatic aura and self-created status as celebrity and genius, readings of the poem often conflate Stein with her work, using elements of her life to explain the inexplicable. My project examines this tendency by constructing a condensed critical history that focuses on the earliest responses to the work as well as recent and contemporary criticism. I question the efficacy of these readings, and in hopes of developing new approaches, I end my project by examining Stein’s own writings about writing and interacting with Tender Buttons. By suggesting new strategies and evaluating previous strategies, my project aims to encourage new ways of reading Tender Buttons that are less dependent on its authorial aura and can perhaps even lead to a more approachable, pleasurable reading experience.

As Gertrude Stein's creative interests had such an incredibly broad scope, an approach to her as an author requires a narrow focus. The intent of this thesis is to explore Gertrude Stein's grammatical theory. Stein believed that literature, if it were to be effective, had to reflect the contemporary scene; that is, the setting should be in the present while the subject matter should concern itself with the "universal." Moreover, the style of the writing, the way each line was composed, should somehow complement subject matter and setting. The way in which Stein proposed to match grammar and the contemporary scene in prose fiction is the subject of this thesis.The thesis is divided into three chapters, and the chapters are intended to move progressively -the second chapter builds and expands upon the first, and the third chapter builds and expands upon the first two. Thus, the first consideration is punctuation. Stein's theory on punctuation is of primary importance; a close examination of why Stein felt it was necessary to discard nearly all of the conventional punctuation marks serves to introduce the highly complex and abstract grammatical theory. After a distillation of the theory from her lectures and books has been achieved, the theory can be applied to the prose itself and whether or not the theory was successful in practice can be evaluated. The second chapter on words and the third on sentences and paragraphs follow the same pattern of organization as the first chapter. The conclusion attempts to quickly sum-up and to provide this writer's answer to the question which remains: did Gertrude Stein's grammatical theory prove successful when put into practice in the prose fiction?In each chapter, then, the primary emphasis is placed upon the extracting of the grammatical theory from the mass of Stein’s work dealing with the subject. As a result of this necessary to attempt to define in concrete terms what Stein meant by her abstract theories. And finally, the theory must be applied to the prose work whether the theory did or could work. The thesis concentrates on Stein's early work, Three Lives, and uses this work as the testing ground for the theory because the use of essentially one book serves to keep the analysis within workable boundaries and because Three Lives is, in my view, the most accessible and thematically sustained work of all her serious prose pieces. I have, nonetheless, considered several of the later Stein pieces in an attempt to provide a more extensive analysis of the grammatical theory.

Hamburg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

Revision of thesis--University of Illinois, Urbana, 1980. / Bibliogr. p. 217-226. Notes. Index.