Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Lemonnier, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Lemonnier, Camille kämēˈyə ləmônyāˈ [key], 1844–1913, Belgian novelist and art critic. After abandoning law, Lemonnier published his first work, Salon de Bruxelles (1863), a collection of ar...

Arthur III

(Encyclopedia)Arthur III, 1394–1458, duke of Brittany (1457–58), known before 1457 as comte de Richemont, constable of France in the Hundred Years War. He led the coalition that overthrew Georges de La Trémoil...

Mariotte, Edme

(Encyclopedia)Mariotte, Edme ĕdˈmə märyôtˈ [key], 1620?–1684, French physicist. His De la nature de l'air (1676) includes a statement of Boyle's law (see gas laws), which he discovered independently and whi...

Jullian, Camille

(Encyclopedia)Jullian, Camille kämēˈyə zhülyäNˈ [key], 1859–1933, French historian. His monumental Histoire de la Gaule (8 vol., 1908–26) combines scholarly erudition with colorful style and remains the ...

Gance, Abel

(Encyclopedia)Gance, Abel, 1889–1981, pioneering French filmmaker. He acted on the stage in the early 1900s and appeared on the silent screen. From 1911 he wrote and directed several films; his first important fi...

Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit

(Encyclopedia)Auber, Daniel-François-Esprit dänyĕlˈ fräNswäˈ ĕsprēˈ ōbĕrˈ [key], 1782–1871, French operatic composer. His greatest successes resulted from his collaboration with the librettist Scribe...

Gustavus V

(Encyclopedia)Gustavus V, 1858–1950, king of Sweden (1907–50), son and successor of Oscar II. During his reign Sweden evolved toward political equality and economic prosperity and avoided military involvement i...

paradox

(Encyclopedia)paradox, statement that appears self-contradictory but actually has a basis in truth, e.g., Oscar Wilde's “Ignorance is like a delicate fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.” Many New Critics mai...

Verhaeren, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Verhaeren, Émile āmēlˈ vārärĕnˈ, vərhäˈrən [key], 1855–1916, Belgian poet and critic, a Fleming who wrote in French. His dominant passion for social reform found expression successively ...

Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet

(Encyclopedia)Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet krēstēˈnä ālēsäbātˈ fārnänˈdās dā kērchˈnâr [key], 1953–, Argentinian politician. A Peronist student activist in the 1970s, she received (1...