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Wilson, Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Edmund, 1895–1972, American critic and author, b. Red Bank, N.J. grad. Princeton, 1916. He is considered one of the most important American literary and social critics of the 20th cent. From...

farce

(Encyclopedia)farce, light, comic theatrical piece in which the characters and events are greatly exaggerated to produce broad, absurd humor. Early examples of farce can be found in the comedies of Aristophanes, Pl...

Bedouin

(Encyclopedia)Bedouin bĕdˈo͞oĭn [key] [Arab.,=desert dwellers], primarily nomad Arab peoples of the Middle East, where they form about 10% of the population. They are of the same Semitic stock as their sedentar...

Payer, Julius von

(Encyclopedia)Payer, Julius von pīˈər [key], 1842–1915, Austrian explorer and painter. While on an expedition (1872–74) to navigate the Northeast Passage with Karl Weyprecht, Payer accidentally found Franz J...

Schmoller, Gustav

(Encyclopedia)Schmoller, Gustav go͝osˈtäf shmôlˈər [key], 1838–1917, German economist. He was the leader of the younger school of German historical economists, who tried to interrelate economics with the ot...

Reinecke, Carl

(Encyclopedia)Reinecke, Carl kärl rīˈnəkə [key], 1824–1910, German composer, pianist, and conductor. After serving as court pianist (1846–48) in Denmark, he taught at the Cologne Conservatory and the Univ....

existentialism

(Encyclopedia)existentialism ĕgzĭstĕnˈshəlĭzəm, ĕksĭ– [key], any of several philosophic systems, all centered on the individual and his relationship to the universe or to God. Important existentialists o...

vaudeville

(Encyclopedia)vaudeville vôdˈvĭl [key], originally a light song, derived from the drinking and love songs formerly attributed to Olivier Basselin and called Vau, or Vaux, de Vire. Similar to the English music ha...

Makart, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Makart, Hans häns mäˈkärt [key], 1840–84, Austrian history painter, studied with Karl von Piloty. His early success was phenomenal. The emperor of Austria provided him with a studio, and his sho...

Cantor, Georg

(Encyclopedia)Cantor, Georg gāˈôrkh känˈtôr [key], 1845–1918, German mathematician, b. St. Petersburg. He studied under Karl Weierstrass and taught (1869–1913) at the Univ. of Halle. He is known for his w...