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Garnier, Marie Joseph François

(Encyclopedia)Garnier, Marie Joseph François gärnyāˈ [key], 1839–73, French explorer and naval officer, usually known as Francis Garnier. He served (1860–62) against Annam and China, then in the administra...

Jarry, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Jarry, Alfred älfrĕdˈ zhärēˈ [key], 1873–1907, French author. He was well known in Paris for his eccentric and dissolute behavior and for his insistence on the superiority of hallucinations ov...

Maine, region and former province, France

(Encyclopedia)Maine mĕn [key], region and former province, NW France, S of Normandy and E of Brittany. It now comprises the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe and parts of Loire-et-Cher, Eure-et-Loir, and Orne. Le ...

Caffieri

(Encyclopedia)Caffieri Fr. käfyārēˈ, Ital. käf-fyāˈrē [key], French family of artists. Philippe Caffieri, 1634–1716, left Italy to enter the service of Louis XIV at the Gobelin factory. He and a son, Jacq...

Blanchot, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Blanchot, Maurice mōrēsˈ bläNshōˈ [key], 1907–2003, French novelist and literary critic. One of the first intellectuals in France to be interested in questions of language and meaning, he was ...

Syracuse, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Syracuse sĭrˈəkyo͞os, sĕrˈ– [key], city (1990 pop. 163,860), seat of Onondaga co., central N.Y., on Onondaga Lake and the Erie Canal; settled c.1788, inc. as a city 1848. It is a port of entry...

Piaf, Edith

(Encyclopedia)Piaf, Edith pēäfˈ [key], 1915–63, French cabaret singer, born as Edith Giovanna Gassion. She began to sing at 15 in cafés and on the streets of Paris and was soon engaged to sing in a cabaret. F...

Primaticcio, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)Primaticcio, Francesco fränchāsˈkō prēmätētˈchō [key], 1504–70, Italian painter, called Le Primatice by the French. He was influenced by Correggio and by Michelangelo. As assistant to Giuli...

Sarraute, Nathalie

(Encyclopedia)Sarraute, Nathalie nätälēˈ särōtˈ [key], 1900–1999, French novelist, b. Ivanovo, Russia, as Natasha Tcherniak; studied at the Sorbonne and Oxford. A lawyer, she joined (1925) a Paris firm. Sh...

Vienne, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Vienne, town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vienne (th...