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Houghton, William Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Houghton, William Stanley, 1881–1913, English dramatist. He was (1907–12) a critic for the Manchester Guardian. His plays, greatly influenced by Ibsen, include The Dear Departed (1908), The Younge...

Diphilus

(Encyclopedia)Diphilus dĭfˈĭləs [key], fl. 300 b.c., Greek dramatist of the New Comedy, b. Sinope. His many dramas (perhaps 100) were extensively adapted by Plautus and Terence and influenced the entire Roman s...

Sherriff, Robert Cedric

(Encyclopedia)Sherriff, Robert Cedric, 1896–1975, English dramatist. His best-known work is the play, Journey's End (1929), a realistic story about combat in World War I. His other dramas include St. Helena (with...

Verga, Giovanni

(Encyclopedia)Verga, Giovanni jōvänˈnē vĕrˈgä [key], 1840–1922, Italian novelist, b. Sicily. He abandoned the study of law for literature and wrote several novels of passion in the style of the French real...

Epicharmus

(Encyclopedia)Epicharmus ĕpĭkärˈməs [key], c.550–c.460 b.c., Sicilian Greek comic dramatist. He was the first to write a coherent artistic comedy, and he dealt with forms other than personal satire such as m...

American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters

(Encyclopedia)American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, honorary academy of notable American artists, writers, and composers. The National Institute of Arts and Letters, founded in 1898, served as the par...

Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College

(Encyclopedia)Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, mainly at Baton Rouge; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1853, opened as a state seminary 1860 near Alexandri...

Ehrenburg, Ilya Grigoryevich

(Encyclopedia)Ehrenburg, Ilya Grigoryevich ēlyäˈ grĭgôrˈyəvĭch āˈrənbo͝ork [key], 1891–1967, Russian journalist and novelist, whose name is also spelled Erenburg. He wandered throughout Western Europe...

Custis, George Washington Parke

(Encyclopedia)Custis, George Washington Parke, 1781–1857, American dramatist, b. Mt. Airy, Md., educated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). The grandson of Martha Washington, he grew up at Mt. Vernon a...

Wilder, Thornton Niven

(Encyclopedia)Wilder, Thornton Niven, 1897–1975, American playwright and novelist, b. Madison, Wis., grad. Yale (B.A., 1920), Princeton (M.A., 1925). He received most of his early education in China, where his fa...