Reading Gertrude Stein"Ruddick's interpretative study of Gertrude Stein breaks new ground in both Stein studies and poststructural theory, remaining accessible while rejecting neither indeterminate polysemy nor the thematic unity of 'idea.' Through valuable interpretations of the major early Stein texts ('Melanctha,' The Making of Americans, G. M. P., and Tender Buttons), Ruddick details the 'serial acts of self definition' of the modernist self in relation to William