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“Man-Eating” and the Myths of the “New world”—Anthropological, Pictorial, and Literary Variants

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Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy

Abstract

One night in October 1492, watching from the poop deck of the Santa Maria, Columbus saw a glimmer of light in the distance ahead and called others to look. According to the ship’s journal, “It was like a wax candle rising and falling once or twice. Few believed that it indicated land, but the Admiral was sure that land was close” (Markham, 1964, p. 36).

ArticleNotes

This article is partly based on Chapter IV, “Reiseliteratur, Ethnologie, Science Fiction;” of my book Menschenfresser in der Kunst und Literatur (Wien: Brandstätter, 1983).

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Thomsen, C.W. (1987). “Man-Eating” and the Myths of the “New world”—Anthropological, Pictorial, and Literary Variants. In: Graumann, C.F., Moscovici, S. (eds) Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4618-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4618-3_3

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9802-1

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