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Dib, Mohammed

(Encyclopedia)Dib, Mohammed môämĕdˈ dēb [key], 1920–2003, Algerian novelist and poet, b. Tlemcen. From 1959 on he lived most of his life in France. In a vigorous, forthright style, he wrote in French about l...

Sandeau, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Sandeau, Jules zhül säNdōˈ [key], 1811–83, French novelist. His best-known work is the romance Mademoiselle de la Seiglière (1848), dramatized in 1851. He collaborated several times with author...

Montholon, Charles Tristan, marquis de

(Encyclopedia)Montholon, Charles Tristan, marquis de shärl trēstäNˈ märkēˈ də môNtōlôNˈ [key], 1783–1853, French general in the Napoleonic Wars. He accompanied the former emperor, Napoleon I, to St. H...

Desnos, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Desnos, Robert rôbĕrˈ dĕsnôsˈ [key], 1900–1945, French poet. Among the best-known surrealist poets, he was one of the chief proponents of so-called automatic writing. He put himself in a tranc...

Sancho IV, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Sancho IV (Sancho the Brave) sänˈchō [key], 1257?-1295, Spanish king of Castile and León (1284–95), son and successor of Alfonso X. On the death (1275) of his elder brother, Ferdinand de la Cerd...

Juan Carlos I

(Encyclopedia)Juan Carlos I hwän kärˈlōs [key], 1938–, king of Spain (1975–2014), b. Rome. The grandson of Alfonso XIII, he was educated in Switzerland and in Spain. Placed by his father, Don Juan de Borbó...

Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de

(Encyclopedia)Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de bĕrnärˈ lə bōvyāˈ də fôNtənĕl [key], 1657–1757, French writer; nephew of Corneille. His forte was the interpretation of science. His works include Dialogu...

Eyzies-de-Tayac, Les

(Encyclopedia)Eyzies-de-Tayac, Les lā zāzēˈ-də-tīäkˈ [key], or Les Eyzies, village, Dordogn...

Francis de Sales, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Francis de Sales, Saint, 1567–1622, French Roman Catholic preacher, Doctor of the Church, and key figure in the Counter Reformation in France. He was a member of an aristocratic family of Savoy and ...

Alonso, Dámaso

(Encyclopedia)Alonso, Dámaso däˈmäsō älōnˈsō [key], 1898–1990, Spanish philologist, lyric poet, and literary critic, b. Madrid. He is known for his literary sensitivity and the precision and rigor of his...