Selected Writings of Gertrude Stein

"This collection, a retrospective exhibit of the work of a woman who created a unique place for herself in the world of letters, contains a sample of practically every period and every manner in Gertrude Stein's career. It includes The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas in its entirety; selected passages from The Making of Americans; "Melanctha"from Three Lives; portraits of the painters Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso; Tender Buttons; the opera Four Saints in Three Acts; and poem, plays, lectures, articles, sketches, and a generous portion of her famous book on the Occupation of France, Wars I Have Seen.

Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1874. At Radcliffe College she studied under William James, who remained her lifelong friend, and then went to Johns Hopkins to study medicine. Abandoning her studies, she moved to Paris with her brother Leo in 1903. At 27 rue de Fleurus, Gertrude Stein lived with Alice B. Toklas, who would remain her companion for 40 years. Not only was she an innovator in literature and a supporter of modern poetry and art, she was the friend and mentor of those who visited her at her now-famous home: Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Her body of work include Three Lives, Tender Buttons, The Making of Americans, and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

A Message from Gertrude Stein
General Introduction by F. W. Dupee
A Stein Song by Carl van Vechten

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

The Gradual Making of The Making of Americans

The Making of Americans (Selected Passages)

Three Portraits of Painters:
      Cezanne
      Matisse
      Picasso

Melanctha:  Each One as She May

Tender Buttons

Composition as Explanation

Portrait of Mabel Dodge at Villa Curonia

Have They Attacked Mary.  He Giggled (A Political Caricature)

As a Wife Has a Cow:  A Love Story

Two Poems:
     Susie Asado
     Preciosilla

Two Plays:
     Ladies' Voices
     What Happened

Miss Furr and Miss Skeene

A Sweet Tail (Gypsies)

Four Saints in Three Acts

The Winner Loses:  A Picture of Occupied France

The Coming of the Americans (from Wars I Have Seen)