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Gardner, Erle Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889–1970, American detective-story writer, b. Malden, Mass. He served as a trial lawyer for many years. About 1921 he began writing detective stories for magazines; after tha...

Jefferies, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Jefferies, Richard jĕfˈrēz [key], 1848–87, English author. A naturalist, he wrote several books about the English countryside. He first achieved recognition with the sketches The Gamekeeper at Ho...

Johnston, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Mary, 1870–1936, American novelist, b. Buchanan, Va. Her books combine romance with history. She is chiefly remembered for To Have and to Hold (1900), a story of colonial Virginia, and its...

Murger, Henry

(Encyclopedia)Murger, Henry äNrēˈ mürzhĕrˈ [key], 1822–61, French poet and novelist. His Scènes de la vie de Bohème (1845–49; tr., 1905, 1930), like many of his works, is a romantic and sentimental acco...

O'Connor, Frank

(Encyclopedia)O'Connor, Frank, 1903–66, Irish short-story writer, whose name originally was Michael O'Donovan. He was a librarian in Dublin and later a director of the Abbey Theatre (1936–39). O'Connor is noted...

Llewellyn, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Llewellyn, Richard lo͞oĕlˈĭn [key], 1907–83, Welsh novelist. He is best known as the author of How Green Was My Valley (1939), a story of life in the S Wales mining areas, and None but the Lonel...

King Horn

(Encyclopedia)King Horn, probably the earliest English-language romance, written c.1250 and containing about 1,500 lines. It is by an anonymous author and is based on an earlier work in French. Emphasizing action a...

Robert the Devil

(Encyclopedia)Robert the Devil, hero of a medieval legend. He was sold to the devil by his mother before his birth but upon discovering the fact did penance and was able to purify himself of his many sins. The tale...

Brendan, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Brendan, Saint, d. 577?, Irish abbot of Clonfert, Co. Galway. A popular medieval story told how he traveled westward to wonderful islands—an Irish version of a widespread legend. His feast is May 16...

Sewell, Anna

(Encyclopedia)Sewell, Anna so͞oˈəl [key], 1820–78, English author. Her only work, Black Beauty (1877), the story of a horse, became a children's classic and has gone into many reprints. Her mother, Mary Wright...