Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

16 results found

Calvino, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Calvino, Italo ĭtəlō călvēˈnō [key], 1923–85, Italian novelist. Calvino was one of the most popular novelists of the 20th cent. Although loneliness is an essential condition in his writings, ...

magic realism

(Encyclopedia)magic realism, primarily Latin American literary movement that arose in the 1960s. The term has been attributed to the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, who first applied it to Latin-American fiction in ...

Balbo, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Balbo, Italo bälˈbō [key], 1896–1940, Italian Fascist leader and aviator. After serving in World War I, he joined the Fascist movement and in 1922 was one of the four top leaders of the March on...

Svevo, Italo

(Encyclopedia)Svevo, Italo ēˈtälō zvāˈvō [key], 1861–1928, Italian novelist, whose real name was Ettore Schmitz, b. Trieste. A businessman, he wrote several works of fiction, but remained practically unkno...

Graziani, Rodolfo

(Encyclopedia)Graziani, Rodolfo rōdôlˈfō grätsēäˈnē [key], 1882–1955, Italian soldier and colonial administrator. After serving in World War I and in Libya (1921–33), he was made (1935) governor of Ita...

Axis

(Encyclopedia)Axis, coalition of countries headed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, 1936–45 (see World War II). The expression “Rome-Berlin axis” originated in Oct., 1936, with an accord reached by Hitler and Mus...

Nenni, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Nenni, Pietro pyĕˈtrō nĕnˈnē [key], 1891–1980, Italian journalist and political leader. He was imprisoned in 1911 for his participation in the protest movement against the Italo-Turkish war in...

Dodecanese

(Encyclopedia)Dodecanese dōdĕkˌənēsˈ, –nēz, dōˌdĕk– [key], Gr. Dhodhekánisos, island...

Italian literature

(Encyclopedia)Italian literature, writings in the Italian language, as distinct from earlier works in Latin and French. In the second half of the 19th cent. Francesco De Sanctis, literary critic and historian, la...

Browse by Subject