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Crommelynck, Fernand

(Encyclopedia)Crommelynck, Fernand fĕrnäNˈ krôməlăNkˈ [key], 1885?–1970, Belgian dramatist, b. Paris. Crommelynck's first great success was a tragic farce about jealousy, Le Cocu magnifique (1921, tr. The ...

Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, sieur d'

(Encyclopedia)Iberville, Pierre le Moyne, sieur d' pyĕr lə mwän syör dēbĕrvēlˈ [key], 1661–1706, French Canadian naval officer, founder of the French territory of Louisiana, b. Ville Marie (in present Mon...

Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de lwē märēˈ də lä ā vēkôNtˈ də kôrmənăNˈ [key], 1788–1868, French politician, jurist, and pamphleteer. He held minor offices under Napoleon,...

Rojas Zorrilla, Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Rojas Zorrilla, Francisco de fränthēˈskō dā rōˈhäs thôrēˈlyä [key], 1607–48, Spanish dramatist. He created a new type of comedia de gracioso, enlarging the role of the gracioso, or buffo...

Bourget, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bourget, Paul pôl bo͞orzhāˈ [key], 1852–1935, French novelist. His early novels were naturalistic, but Le Disciple (1889, tr. 1901), a tale of the destruction of a pupil who applies his master's...

Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme

(Encyclopedia)Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme nëkôläˈ ĕdˈmə rĕstēfˈ də lä brətônˈ [key], 1734–1806, French novelist. A printer by trade, he wrote and published over 250 novels, mostly based on ...

Renard, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Renard, Jules zhül rənärˈ [key], 1864–1910, French writer. His Écornifleur (1892) is a novel about a young writer's selfish exploitation of a bourgeois family. Poil de carotte (1894), an autobi...

Isla, José Francisco de

(Encyclopedia)Isla, José Francisco de hōsāˈ fränthēˈskō dā ēˈslä [key], 1703–81, Spanish Jesuit preacher and writer. Enormously precocious, he took his law degree at 11. Isla's fame rests on the satir...

Tallien, Thérésa Cabarrus

(Encyclopedia)Tallien, Thérésa Cabarrus tälyăNˈ [key], 1773–1835, French political figure, of Spanish parentage. The divorced wife of a marquis de Fontenay, she became intimate with the revolutionary Jean L...

Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de

(Encyclopedia)Beaumarchais, Pierre Augustin Caron de pyĕr ōgüstăNˈ karôNˈ də bōmärshāˈ [key], 1732–99, French dramatist. Originally a watchmaker, he rose to wealth and position among the nobility. His...

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