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Esther

(Encyclopedia)Esther ĕsˈtər [key], book of the Bible. It is the tale of the beautiful Jewish woman Esther [Heb.,= Hadassah], who is chosen as queen by the Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I or II) after he has rep...

Lee Teng-hui

(Encyclopedia)Lee Teng-hui lēˈ dŭngˈ-hwēˈ [key], 1923–2020, Taiwanese agricultural economist and politician, president of Taiwan (1988–2000). Born in Taiwan when it was ruled by Japan, he was educated at ...

Sagan, Carl Edward

(Encyclopedia)Sagan, Carl Edward sāˈgən [key], 1934–96, American astronomer and popularizer of science, b. New York City. Early in his career he investigated radio emissions from Venus and concluded that the c...

Old Testament

(Encyclopedia)Old Testament, Christian name for the Hebrew Bible, which serves as the first division of the Christian Bible (see New Testament). The designations “Old” and “New” seem to have been adopted af...

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., 1950–, American scholar and critic, b. Keyser, W.Va., B.A. Yale, 1973, Ph.D. Cambridge, 1979, where he studied with Wole Soyinka. Gates is an expert on African-American lite...

Veblen, Thorstein

(Encyclopedia)Veblen, Thorstein thôrˈstīn vĕbˈlən [key], 1857–1929, American economist and social critic, b. Cato Township, Wis. Of Norwegian parentage, he spent his first 17 years in Norwegian-American far...

Reich, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Reich, Steve (Stephen Michael Reich), 1936–, American composer, b. New York City. A well-known exponent of minimalism, he attended Cornell (B.A., 1957), Juilliard (1958–61), and Mills College (M.A...

symbolists

(Encyclopedia)symbolists, in literature, a school originating in France toward the end of the 19th cent. in reaction to the naturalism and realism of the period. Designed to convey impressions by suggestion rather ...

free verse

(Encyclopedia)free verse, term loosely used for rhymed or unrhymed verse made free of conventional and traditional limitations and restrictions in regard to metrical structure. Cadence, especially that of common sp...
 

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