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Vigny, Alfred Victor, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Vigny, Alfred Victor, comte de älfrĕdˈ vĕktôrˈ kôNt də vēnyēˈ [key], 1797–1863, French poet, novelist, and dramatist. One of the foremost romantics, Vigny expressed a philosophy of stoica...

Family Compact, in French and Spanish history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, several alliances between France and Spain in the form of agreements between the French and Spanish branches of the Bourbon family. The first of the three compacts, the Treaty of the E...

Frank, Bruno

(Encyclopedia)Frank, Bruno bro͞oˈnō frängk [key], 1887–1945, German novelist and dramatist. His popular works include the historical novels The Days of the King (1924, tr. 1927), Trenck (1926, tr. 1928), and ...

Kamban, Guðmundur

(Encyclopedia)Kamban, Guðmundur gvüᵺˈmüntür kämˈbän [key], 1888–1945, Icelandic dramatist and novelist. Many of Kamban's plays, among them Hadda-Padda (1914, tr. 1917), were produced in Denmark. His spi...

Holcroft, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Holcroft, Thomas hōlˈkrôft [key], 1745–1809, English dramatist and novelist. Sometimes credited with having introduced melodrama to the London stage, he is the author of the sentimental play The ...

soviet

(Encyclopedia)soviet, primary unit in the political organization of the former USSR. The term is the Russian word for council. The first soviets were revolutionary committees organized by Russian socialists in the ...

Olesha, Yuri

(Encyclopedia)Olesha, Yuri, 1899–1960, Russian novelist and dramatist. In his novel Envy (1927; tr. 1936) and in his other writing, Olesha focused on the conflict between the demands of an industrialized world an...

Lohenstein, Daniel Caspar von

(Encyclopedia)Lohenstein, Daniel Caspar von däˈnēĕl käsˈpär fən lōˈənshtīn [key], 1635–83, German dramatist, novelist, and poet. Lohenstein is credited with having created baroque tragedy in Germany. ...

Condé, French family

(Encyclopedia)Condé kôNdāˈ [key], family name of a cadet branch of the French royal house of Bourbon. The name was first borne by Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, 1530–69, Protestant leader and general. ...

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