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Guizot, François

(Encyclopedia)Guizot, François fräNswäˈ gēzōˈ [key], 1787–1874, French statesman and historian. The son of a Protestant family of Nîmes, he was educated at Geneva. He began a legal career in Paris in 1805...

Gordimer, Nadine

(Encyclopedia)Gordimer, Nadine nādēnˈ gôrˈdəmər [key], 1923–2014, South African writer, b. Springs. A member of the African National Congress, Gordimer fought apartheid in her political life and in her wri...

Synge, John Millington

(Encyclopedia)Synge, John Millington sĭng [key], 1871–1909, Irish poet and dramatist, b. near Dublin, of Protestant parents. He was an important figure in the Irish literary renaissance. As a young man he studie...

burlesque

(Encyclopedia)burlesque bûrlĕskˈ [key] [Ital.,=mockery], form of entertainment differing from comedy or ...

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm nēˈchə [key], 1844–1900, German philosopher, b. Röcken, Prussia. The son of a clergyman, Nietzsche studied Greek and Latin at Bonn and Leipz...

Balzac, Honoré de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Honoré de bălˈzăk, bôl–, Fr. ōnôrāˈ də bälzäkˈ [key], 1799–1850, French novelist, b. Tours. Balzac ranks among the great masters of the novel. Of a bourgeois family, he himsel...

John II, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)John II (John Casimir), 1609–72, king of Poland (1648–68), son of Sigismund III. He was elected to succeed his brother, Ladislaus IV. The turbulent period of his reign is known in Polish history a...

William I, emperor of Germany and king of Prussia

(Encyclopedia)William I, 1797–1888, emperor of Germany (1871–88) and king of Prussia (1861–88), second son of the future King Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg. Essentially conservati...

diary

(Encyclopedia)diary [Lat.,=day], a daily record of events and observations. As distinguished from memoir (an account of events placed in perspective by the author long after they have occurred), the diary derives i...

Commune of Paris

(Encyclopedia)Commune of Paris, insurrectionary governments in Paris formed during (1792) the French Revolution and at the end (1871) of the Franco-Prussian War. In the French Revolution, the Revolutionary commune,...