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Ramos, Graciliano

(Encyclopedia)Ramos, Graciliano rämˈŏs [key], 1892–1953, Brazilian novelist. His work is marked by psychological analysis and focuses on social problems in rural districts of NE Brazil. See his novel São Ber...

Cooper, James Fenimore

(Encyclopedia)Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789–1851, American novelist, b. Burlington, N.J., as James Cooper. He was the first important American writer to draw on the subjects and landscape of his native land in ord...

Bachofen, Johann Jakob

(Encyclopedia)Bachofen, Johann Jakob bäkōˈfən [key], 1815–87, Swiss legal historian and antiquarian. Bachofen studied in Berlin, Göttingen, Paris, and Cambridge, and accepted only honorary offices in order t...

Brooks, Van Wyck

(Encyclopedia)Brooks, Van Wyck văn wĭkˈ [key], 1886–1963, American critic, b. Plainfield, N.J., grad. Harvard, 1908. His first book, The Wine of the Puritans (1909), presented the thesis that American culture ...

Smith, Goldwin

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Goldwin, 1823–1910, English educator, historian, and journalist. Educated at Oxford, he took a prominent part in executing reforms at the university and became (1858) professor of modern hist...

Ford Foundation

(Encyclopedia)Ford Foundation, philanthropic institution, established (1936) in Michigan by Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, for the general purpose of advancing human welfare. Until 1950 the foundation was involved ...

Glaisher, James

(Encyclopedia)Glaisher, James glāˈshər [key], 1809–1903, English meteorologist and balloonist, b. London. He served as superintendent of the department of meteorology and magnetism at Greenwich Observatory fro...

Priestley, J. B.

(Encyclopedia)Priestley, J. B. (John Boynton Priestley), 1894–1984, English author. An extraordinarily prolific writer, Priestley worked in a variety of genres. He first wrote literary criticism as a student at C...

Lewes, George Henry

(Encyclopedia)Lewes, George Henry lo͞oˈĭs [key], 1817–78, English critic and author. As editor of the Leader (1850–54) and of the Fortnightly Review (1865–66), Lewes distinguished himself as a critic. Infl...

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