The animalcules of Adam: & other small tales

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.