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This study investigates the subject of illusionism in contemporary American fiction. A recurrent yet under-examined theme, the history of stage magic in the U.S. suggests how an earlier age domesticated the seeming sorcery of market capitalism, credit, limitless self-(re)making, and ethnic vanishing. Such conditions provide antecedents and analogues for the writing of fiction in a world of digitalized knowledge, work, identity, and financialization. Self-reflexively illusionist fiction today represents itself ambivalently as magical entertainment. Is its function to mesmerize audiences or alert them to ideological sleight-of-hand? If the enchantments of literary art screen the machinations of power, how do novelists preserve fiction's capacity to inspire wonder, affective experience, and ethical commitment? Chapter One argues that Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian presents illusionism as integral to imperialism and commodification, as well as to its own artistry. McCarthy indicates the instrumentalization of aesthetics under late capitalism yet seeks through moments of enchantment to transcend it. Chapter Two shows that in Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster and In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien, fiction’s "magic" lies in transcending social differences and inspiring empathy, but that the historical residue of racism in American illusionism obstructs the effort to imagine otherness. Both novels reframe the worth of fiction as therapeutic. Chapter Three argues that the figure of Harry Houdini embodies literature's status as primarily entertainment, inspiring wonder rather than critique. Michael Chabon's Kavalier & Clay celebrates escapistry, but seeks through Houdini to restore a utopian dimension to entertainment. / 2017-11-04T00:00:00Z

This thesis examines the concept of “speaking bodies” in the early modern European world, primarily in the seventeenth century. Demoniacs and corpses that bled due to cruentation are examined comparatively through the lens of gender. Utilizing sources that include pamphlets, broadsheets, witness testimonies, and legal records, this thesis performs a close textual analysis to reveal that the gender of the speaking bodies informed contemporaries’ beliefs in the validity of a body’s speech. This thesis also argues that one form of speaking bodies – bleeding corpses – survived over another form – demoniacs – because of gender differentials. In order for a body to speak and be heard, whether through literal demonic speech or metaphorical blood, this body either had to be male, or possessed by a male spirit such as a demon.

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A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo pensar o cinema de George Méliès, na virada do século XIX para o século XX, como um prisma através do qual refratam-se espectros da modernidade, ou seja, elementos recorrentes em seus filmes que desdobravam questões caras àquele período, e que se ressignificam de diferentes maneiras à luz da chamada pós-modernidade. / The present research aims to think George Méliès' films, at the turn of the nineteenth century for the twentieth century, as a prism through which refracted specters of modernity, that is, recurring elements in his films, each one unfolding differente meanings about that period, and each one of them ressignfying themselves in different ways in the light of the so-called postmodernity.

A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo pensar o cinema de George Méliès, na virada do século XIX para o século XX, como um prisma através do qual refratam-se espectros da modernidade, ou seja, elementos recorrentes em seus filmes que desdobravam questões caras àquele período, e que se ressignificam de diferentes maneiras à luz da chamada pós-modernidade. / The present research aims to think George Méliès' films, at the turn of the nineteenth century for the twentieth century, as a prism through which refracted specters of modernity, that is, recurring elements in his films, each one unfolding differente meanings about that period, and each one of them ressignfying themselves in different ways in the light of the so-called postmodernity.

The following dissertation is presented in two parts. The main part is focused on the collection of twelve jewellery pieces, which I designed and produced myself. In case of decorative objects I tried to find a balance of shapes, structures and materials. The jewellery is made from organic and natural resources which I often find charming and fascinating. The greatest inspiration for me had to be the world`s natural civilisations, which don{\crq}t regard the jewellery pieces just as decoration but for them represent also magical and spiritual meaning. In the theoretic part of my dissertation I focused on the comparison of jewellery in natural civilisations with the primate jewellery of mankind. In this part of my work I searched for the roots of magic and art in general and I discovered the connections with todays remaining natural civilisations {--} magical meaning of jewellery, use of material and meaningful ornaments. Here I also mentioned the use and representation of jewellery. Attempting to clarify the concept of amullet, talisman and fetish. All written text is supported by picture documentation. In the last chapter I summarised the main focus of my dissertation and reflected on the creative process of my work. The last part of my dissertation contains all photo documentation of the creative process.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior / Neste trabalho, colocaremos a forma lendÃria de como os quadrados mÃgicos surgiram bem como sua utilizaÃÃo por artistas entre os sÃculos 15 e 18. Posteriormente definimos os quadrados mÃgicos e quadrados mÃgicos normais. Por fim, estabeleceremos o conjunto de todos os quadrados mÃgicos de mesma ordem como espaÃos vetoriais, determinando sua base e sua dimensÃo, exemplificando para os casos de ordem 3 e 4. / In this paper, we will place the legendary form of magic squares appeared as well as its use by artists between the 15th and 18th centuries. Later defined magic squares and magic squares normal. Finally, we will establish the set of all magic squares of the same order as vector spaces, determining its basis and its dimension, illustrating the cases of order 3 and 4.

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It is now widely accepted that adaptation to different ecological niches can result in the evolution of new species. However, when gene flow persists speciation must overcome the antagonism between selection and recombination: Specifically, if gene flow persists, recombination will break down the genetic associations between alleles that characterise emerging species and cause reproductive isolation. Accordingly, genetic architectures that impede recombination can slow the breakdown of linkage disequilibrium and facilitate speciation. Mimicry in tropical butterflies has long been championed as an example of adaptation driving speciation. In the Neotropical genus Heliconius, distantly related pairs of unpalatable species often converge on the same bright warning-pattern to more efficiently advertise their distastefulness to predators. In contrast, closely related taxa often belong to different mimicry rings. The sister species, Heliconius melpomene and H. cydno are sympatric across much of Central and northern South America. Using artificial butterflies I reveal selection against non-mimetic hybrid colour patterns between these two species. These colour patterns are also used as mating cues and mimetic shifts may cause both pre-mating and post-mating isolation. However, shifts in colour pattern cannot drive reproductive isolation alone; rather, they must be accompanied by corresponding mate preferences. Associations between trait and preference loci may be broken down by mating and subsequent recombination. I demonstrate a genetic linkage between loci for both male and female mate preference and wing colour pattern in Heliconius cydno and H. melpomene. In addition, I present evidence for further associations between alleles affecting hybrid sterility and host-plant use and colour pattern loci. All this implies that linkage between traits that contribute to reproductive and ecological isolation is a general phenomenon in Heliconius with an underlying adaptive basis. Overall these results expose a genetic mechanism that, by impeding recombination, can facilitate speciation in the face of gene flow.