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Marcel, Gabriel

(Encyclopedia)Marcel, Gabriel märsĕlˈ [key] 1889–1973, French philosopher, dramatist, and critic, b. Paris. A leading Christian existentialist, he became a Roman Catholic in 1929. He called himself a “concr...

Grand Island

(Encyclopedia)Grand Island <1> City (2020 pop. 53,131), seat of Hall co., S Nebr., on the Wood River near its junction with the Platte; settled 1857 on the Plat...

Froissart, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Froissart, Jean zhäN frəwäsärˈ [key], c.1337–1410?, French chronicler, poet, and courtier, b. Valenciennes. Although ordained as a priest, he led a worldly life. He became a protégé of Queen ...

Isabella

(Encyclopedia)Isabella, 1296–1358, queen consort of Edward II of England, daughter of Philip IV of France. She married Edward in 1308. Neglected and mistreated by her husband, Isabella nourished hatred for the ro...

Dib, Mohammed

(Encyclopedia)Dib, Mohammed môämĕdˈ dēb [key], 1920–2003, Algerian novelist and poet, b. Tlemcen. From 1959 on he lived most of his life in France. In a vigorous, forthright style, he wrote in French about l...

Duse, Eleonora

(Encyclopedia)Duse, Eleonora do͞oˈzə, Ital. ālāōnôˈrä do͞oˈzā [key], 1859–1924, Italian actress. From a theatrical family, she made a successful appearance at 14 as Juliet and in 1879 gained recogniti...

Barragán, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Barragán, Luis, 1902–88, Mexican architect. Trained as an engineer, he traveled in France and Spain in the 1920s, and in France again in the early 30s when he met and was influenced by Le Corbusier...

Sheba, region, Arabian Peninsula

(Encyclopedia)Sheba, biblical name of a region, called in Arabic Saba, of S Arabia, including present-day Yemen and the Hadhramaut. Its inhabitants were called Sabaeans or Sabeans. According to some passages in Gen...

Petit, Roland

(Encyclopedia)Petit, Roland rōläNˈ pətēˈ [key], 1924–2011, French dancer and choreographer, b. Villemomble. Petit joined the Paris Opéra company at 15 and in 1948 founded Les Ballets de Paris de Roland Pe...

Todorov, Tzvetan

(Encyclopedia)Todorov, Tzvetan, 1939–2017, Bulgarian-French literary theorist, historian of ideas, and sociologist, b. Sofia, Bulgaria, Ph.D. Univ. of Paris, 1966. He joined (1968) the National Center for Scienti...