Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Dolomieu, Déodat Guy Silvain Tancrède Gratet de

(Encyclopedia)Dolomieu, Déodat Guy Silvain Tancrède Gratet de dāôdäˈ gē sēlvăNˈ täNkrĕdˈ grätāˈ də dôlômyöˈ [key], 1750–1801, French geologist. He contributed to the study of volcanic geology...

Jullian, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Jullian, Camille kämēˈyə zhülyäNˈ [key], 1859–1933, French historian. His monumental Histoire de la Gaule (8 vol., 1908–26) combines scholarly erudition with colorful style and remains the ...

Gance, Abel

(Encyclopedia)Gance, Abel, 1889–1981, pioneering French filmmaker. He acted on the stage in the early 1900s and appeared on the silent screen. From 1911 he wrote and directed several films; his first important fi...

Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit

(Encyclopedia)Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit dänyĕlˈ fräNswäˈ ĕsprēˈ ōbĕrˈ [key], 1782–1871, French operatic composer. His greatest successes resulted from his collaboration with the librettist Scribe...

paradox

(Encyclopedia)paradox, statement that appears self-contradictory but actually has a basis in truth, e.g., Oscar Wilde's “Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” Many New Critics mai...

Gustavus V

(Encyclopedia)Gustavus V, 1858–1950, king of Sweden (1907–50), son and successor of Oscar II. During his reign Sweden evolved toward political equality and economic prosperity and avoided military involvement i...

Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome ēhwāˈlōs [key], 1951–2013, Cuban-American novelist, b. New York City, grad. City College (B.A., 1975; M.F.A., 1976). The son of Cuban immigrants, he typically wrote about ...

Verhaeren, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Verhaeren, Émile āmēlˈ vārärĕnˈ, vərhäˈrən [key], 1855–1916, Belgian poet and critic, a Fleming who wrote in French. His dominant passion for social reform found expression successively ...

Auteuil

(Encyclopedia)Auteuil ōtöˈyə [key], old town between the Seine and the Bois de Boulogne, absorbed (1860) into Paris, France. A favorite resort for writers (Molière, La Fontaine, Boileau) in the 17th cent., it ...

Tortuga

(Encyclopedia)Tortuga tōrto͞oˈgä [key] [Span.,=turtle], island, c.70 sq mi (180 sq km), off N Haiti. It was a notorious rendezvous of pirates in the 17th cent. It is called Île de la Tortue by the Haitians. ...
 

Browse by Subject