'Crossing the Rubicon: Language and Popular Fiction at the Fin-de-Siecle' examines how Victorian scientific and cultural concerns about the status of the English language, and indeed, of language in general, affected the literary genre which seemed most representative of its decline, the popular novel. The dissertation aligns the fears of linguistic degeneration produced by the appearance of a newly-literate proletariat with those raised by the widely debated potential of animals to mimic, learn and develop basic language skills. The project argues that the popular novel, as apparent epitome of 'brutal' taste and mass language, refutes rather than confirms these fears of linguistic decline through its representation and ultimate reformulation of the relationship between language and human sovereignty. This point is demonstrated through an examination of three popular late-century texts which thematize and engage with problems of linguistic identity, status and meaning: Marie Corelli's The Sorrows of Satan (1895), H. G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). These texts' engagement with the formal, philosophical and national aspects of language undermines the high-modernist dismissal of popular fiction on the grounds of linguistic simplicity and transparency / acase@tulane.edu

In 1661, six years before the publication of Milton's Paradise Lost, another epic appeared that justified the ways of God to men--Samuel Pordage's Mundorum Explicatio. Unusual among the many poetic biblical narratives of the seventeenth century for its mixture of theology with magic, mysticism, astrology, and alchemy, Mundorum Explicatio anticipates Paradise Lost in its treatment of hexameral themes Pordage, whose mystical natural philosophy is derived from the works of the German mystic Jacob Boehme, attempts to shape his material into epic form: He includes invocations, catalogues, extended similes, and celestial messengers, self-consciously measuring his style against the models of Tasso, Spenser, and DuBartas. However, Mundorum Explicatio is stylistically closer to the emblematic mode than the epic. A hieroglyphical figure that precedes the poem is the foundation for its structure. Pordage frequently refers his reader to the visual representation of the four spheres contained in the figure, creating a dialectic between the illustration and the poem that imitates the relationship of icon and gloss found in emblem books Pordage divides the poem into three parts. The first contains a didactic account of Creation and the Fall of Man, followed by an allegorical journey through the horrors of Hell. In the second part Pordage depicts the journey of a Pilgrim to the celestial world. The narration is propelled up the ladder of mystical ascent by a sequence of animated tableaux, emblematic representations of virtues and vices illustrating the spiritual struggles of the seeker of God. The third part is a brief description of the three orbs of the eternal world; each increases the Pilgrim's rapture as he moves toward ecstatic fusion with the Godhead at His golden throne in the center of the New Jerusalem The 1661 edition has served as the copy-text. The critical apparatus includes a record of substantive and accidental emendations, a set of textual and discursive notes, a historical collation of the 1661 edition and the manuscript, and specimens of the four scribal hands of the manuscript / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

This study uses macroscopic and microscopic techniques to analyze cut mark morphology and patterning on the bones of human sacrificial victims excavated from Moche (A.D. 100-800) sites on the north coast of Peru. This project represents the first in-depth investigation of the methods and tools used in perimortem and postmortem modification of human remains from the north coast of Peru and provides detailed comparisons of iconographic and skeletal evidence of trauma. The data sample consists of human bones from the Moche sites of Huaca de la Luna, El Brujo and Dos Cabezas, and three comparative samples composed of human bones from a Lambayeque (A.D. 800-1375) mass burial at Pacatnamu, butchered faunal remains, and human bones from a modern forensic case. Cut marks were recorded and analyzed using drawings, photographs, negative and positive casts, thin sections, a light microscope, a scanning electron microscope and a micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. Results indicate that the perimortem and postmortem treatment of the sacrificial victims at each site was regular and systematic and, depending on the site, included activities such as facial and genital mutilation, throat slitting, opening of the chest cavity, decapitation, defleshing and dismemberment. With few exceptions, all cut marks in my sample are morphologically similar and have features characteristic of metal tool use. It is likely that metal tumis, the crescent-bladed knives used to slit the throats and decapitate sacrificial victims in Moche and Lambayeque art, were used for the same purposes in real life. Although cut marks on human and faunal bones show similarities in their location and morphology, the human bones' lack of breakage and other evidence of consumption found in the butchered faunal remains argues against ritual cannibalism. Although there was some variation in the practice of human sacrifice within and between Moche sites and between the Moche and Lambayeque cultures, overall patterns suggest behavioral continuity through time. The many similarities between the physical evidence and the iconography strongly support the argument that Moche and Lambayeque artistic depictions of prisoner capture, torture, sacrifice and mutilation reflect actual practices / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu

This dissertation is a study and critical edition of Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza's comedy Cada loco con su tema. The introduction presents a short biography of the playwright, comments on his other plays, analyzes the major themes and ideas of this work, and presents the criteria used in preparing this edition. The basis of the text is a microfilm copy of the autograph manuscript (signed and dated August 29, 1630), located in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. This manuscript was collated with two other early manuscript and the three printed editions. The text of the play retains the orthography of the autograph manuscript but has adjusted the capitalization and punctuation to modern norms. The notes list the variants from the other copies and explain difficult passages. Also included are a table of versification and bibliography / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu