>Greetings--
>
>>To refine further, Canadians (at least while I was growing up) learned
>>"Atishoo" while my small son now in the States says "Ashes"
>>While this rhyme might not have grown out of a plague context, I wonder if
>>it might still not be "about" the plague.
>
>I guess the main problem I have with that is that a) few of the other
>variants can be interpreted to have Plague meanings; b) is there a late
>19th century reason why folks would be interested in the Plague? Besides
>Victorian fascination with the Middle Ages?
THERE WAS A NINETEENTH CENTURY FASCINATION WITH PLAGUE, IN PART DUE TO THE
BIRTH OF THE SCIENCE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY IN THE WAKE OF THE 1830S CHOLERA
EPIDEMICS, WHICH GAVE RISE TO PIONEERING EPIDEMIOLOGIST JUSTIN HECKER'S DER
SCHWARZE TOD IM VIERSEHNTEN JAHRHUNDERT (1832)--TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH,
ITALIAN, DUTCH, AND FRENCH, AND REPRINTED IN ENGLISH UNTIL 1972. MARY
SHELLEY ALSO WROTE A NOVEL ABOUT A UNIVERSAL DIE-OFF DUE TO A PLAGUE, A
VERY SLOW READ ENTITLED THE LAST MAN (1824).
FAYE MARIE GETZ HAS A VERY NICE ARTICLE ABOUT WHAT SHE DUBS THIS "GOTHIC"
CONCEPTION OF PLAGUE: "BLACK DEATH AND THE SILVER LINING: MEANING,
CONTINUITY, AND REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE IN HISTORIES OF MEDIEVAL PLAGUE,"
JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF BIOLOGY 24 (1991): 265-89.
LAURA SMOLLER
Laura Smoller
Department of History
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 South University Ave.
Little Rock, AR 72204-1099
tel 501-569-8389
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