DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/TRMC-BT55

Defense Date

2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

English

First Advisor

Katherine S. Nash

Second Advisor

Nicholas Frankel

Third Advisor

Jason Coats

Abstract

In exploring the relationship between Gertrude Stein's and Henri Bergson's lectures on movement this posits a conception of democracy embedded in Stein's poetry where everything that moves exists and everything that exists has a stake in the landscape in which it exists. Tender Buttons describes objects in ways that highlight the movement of nonliving matter, evoking current scholarship in new materialism, particularly Jane Bennett. After establishing a relationship between Bergson and Stein, this thesis turns to Jane Bennett teasing out the political and ecological implications of Stein's conception of movement in inanimate objects.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-11-2021

Available for download on Sunday, May 10, 2026

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