At the publication of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel "Lolita" (1958), the author insisted that a girl never appear on the cover. This discourse analysis of 185 "Lolita" book covers, most of which feature a girl, considers the genealogy of "Lolita" in relation to representation, myth, and tacit knowledge…

In this dissertation I examine the patterns and uses of transgressive humor and sexual talk that male traders from Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) indulge in when at their leisure from trading. I investigate how cultural conceptualizations or ideologies are brought into the present moment through discursive interaction and how the cultural signs…

This article analyzes the few published references to gender variation among Plains Indians in order to contribute to a growing corpus of literature concerned with building a more complete picture of the social and cultural lives of individuals accustomed to these practices. In recent years these people have been known among Native Americans under…

"Embodied Wisdom: Meditations on Memoir and Education" by Alison Pryer, Ph.D. explores the interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit within diverse educational contexts. Evocative, sensual prose carries the reader on a journey through the personal and the remembered in a layered series of autobiographical essays, each one affording deeper…

This article profiles Christopher Benfey, 53--an art critic for Slate, a poet, and a prolific literary essayist for such venues as "The New York Times Book Review, The New Republic," and "The New York Review of Books." His latest book, "A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily…

This article examines the sexually explicit comments and references to pornography in young men's answers to a survey about sexuality education. Instead of viewing these remarks as simply impertinent and therefore discountable, I argue that they offer insights into the constitution of masculine identity and an erotic deficit in sexuality…

This study analyzes court records of a county-level trial in Austin, Texas, in which erotized AIDS-HIV safer-sex information shown on a public access cable television program was claimed by the State of Texas to be obscene. This trial raised questions regarding such issues as: free access to information, especially through new technological…