signed cover page
This electronic version of my doctoral dissertation, which was submitted to the faculty of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at University of Virginia in May, 1999, is in most respects identical to the original hardcopy version.
Because of the formal complexity of this dissertation, which contains references and terms in multiple languages and alphabets, it has been necessary to include dynamic fonts in order that the reader's browser be able to display Old Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, as well as East European alphabetic characters with diacritics, such as è and ¾. In order to accomplish this, a plug-in for your browser is required. This free plug-in ("WebFont Player") is supplied by Bitstream, and in most cases will be downloaded automatically once permission is granted. It is only necessary to download the plug-in once. It is also necessary to set your browser to use document-supplied fonts rather than your default fonts. [If you need assistance, please write me by clicking on my name at the bottom of this column.]
Much as I find the use of frames annoying, for the present I decided that frames would allow the kinds of navigation necessary to maximize the utility of this book. Due to time constraints, I have not yet developed a no-frames version, so users without browsers capable of handling frames will not be able to read this work electronically. Also, for now I recommend viewing this work with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or higher; while Microsoft Internet Explorer should display the text appropriately, I have not thoroughly tested the book on that browser.
This dissertation, like all dissertations, has its flaws, both in content and in form. I welcome comments addressing either. While every effort has been made to eliminate typographic errors (and dead hypertext links!), it is likely that one will pop up here and there. Since this is an ongoing effort, and is intended to be the starting point for a more elaborate Web space containing my other writings and links to other areas of interest, repair of formal errors will be made on an ongoing basis. Comments to the dissertation will be selectively posted as links within or into the dissertation.
Every effort has been made to make the interface self-explanatory, and there is very little deviation from standard Web browser conventions in the design of this frames-based book. Nevertheless, because of the complexity of the relationships between the frames, I anticipate that some users will encounter unexpected glitches here and there. Again, I welcome any comments that will help me improve the interface.
Although this dissertation has been approved by my doctoral committee, I accept full responsibility for any errors or omissions of fact. Please understand that this is a dissertation, not a work intended for general publication. Nevertheless, except for some passages where a knowledge of Slavic linguistics or folkloristics might be useful, it is hoped that the arguments made herein can be followed by a majority of the readers coming to this page.
Cover image: statue in the chapel of St. Srebra, Staro Selo, Bulgaria. Photograph by Diliana Boteva, 1999