Inspired by the baroque prose of Melissa Pritchard, The Animalcules of Adam: & Other Small Tales is a genre-bending short story collection that incorporates elements of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and translation. Spanning in subject and setting, from the primitive bear rituals of Finland to the coroner’s inquests of 19th century England, the purpose of this thesis project is to develop a uniquely immersive voice, while ostensibly investigating the origins of curious inventions, including the microscope, the kaleidoscope, and the first English dictionary. This collection borrows from, and deliberately manipulates, the texts of important historical figures, such as Walt Whitman, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek and Robert Cawdrey, in an effort to make a home in the voice of another. It is a playful and linguistically sensitive study of the nature of invention; a meta-fictional commentary on the anxiety (and ecstasy) of influence; and above all else, a celebration of the written word. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014.. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection