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Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.

(Encyclopedia) Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr.vŏnˈəgət [key] 1922–2007, American novelist, b. Indianapolis. After serving in World War II, he worked as a police reporter and wrote short…

Styron, William

(Encyclopedia) Styron, William, 1925–2006, American novelist, b. Newport News, Va., grad. Duke, 1947. His fiction is often powerful, deeply felt, poetic, and elegiac. He became well known for his…

Tesla, Nikola

(Encyclopedia) Tesla, NikolaTesla, Nikolatĕsˈlə [key], 1856–1943, American electrician and inventor, b. Croatia (then an Austrian province). An ethnic Serb, he immigrated to the United States in 1884…

Updike, John

(Encyclopedia) Updike, John, 1932–2009, American author, one of the nation's most distinguished 20th-century men of letters, b. Shillington, Pa., grad. Harvard, 1954. In his many novels and stories,…

Jeffers, Robinson

(Encyclopedia) Jeffers, Robinson, 1887–1962, American poet and dramatist, b. Pittsburgh, grad. Occidental College, 1905. From 1914 until his death Jeffers lived on the Big Sur section of the rocky…

Bukowski, Charles

(Encyclopedia) Bukowski, Charles, 1920–94, American underground poet and fiction writer, b. Andernach, Germany. His family immigrated to the United States in 1922, settling in Los Angeles. A hard-…

Wollstonecraft, Mary

(Encyclopedia) Wollstonecraft, MaryWollstonecraft, Maryw&oobreve;lˈstənkräft, –krăft [key], 1759–97, English author and feminist, b. London. She was an early proponent of educational equality…

Darwin, Charles Robert

(Encyclopedia) Darwin, Charles Robert, 1809–82, English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury; grandson of Erasmus Darwin and of Josiah Wedgwood. He firmly established the theory of organic evolution known as…

Globe Theatre

(Encyclopedia) Globe Theatre, London playhouse, built in 1598, where most of Shakespeare's plays were first presented. It burned in 1613, was rebuilt in 1614, and was destroyed by the Puritans in…

Exeter Book

(Encyclopedia) Exeter Book, manuscript volume of Old English religious and secular poetry, of various dates of composition, compiled c.975 and given to Exeter Cathedral by Bishop Leofric (d. 1072).…