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Tieck, Ludwig

(Encyclopedia)Tieck, Ludwig lo͝otˈvĭtkh tēk [key], 1773–1853, German writer. In his youth he led the transition from Sturm und Drang to romanticism, writing with W. H. Wackenroder Phantasien über die Kunst (...

Rice, Elmer

(Encyclopedia)Rice, Elmer, 1892–1967, American dramatist, b. New York City, LL.B. New York Law School, 1912. After the success of his first play, On Trial (1914), he turned his interests to the theater. Rice's fi...

Castagno, Andrea del

(Encyclopedia)Castagno, Andrea del ändrĕˈä dĕl kästäˈnyō [key], c.1423–1457, major Florentine painter of the early Renaissance. His first recorded painting (1440; now destroyed), effigies of hanged men, ...

Wycherley, William

(Encyclopedia)Wycherley, William wĭchˈərlē [key], 1640?–1716, English dramatist, b. near Shrewsbury. His first comedy, Love in a Wood (1671), was a huge success and won him the favor of the duchess of Clevela...

Waters, Ethel

(Encyclopedia)Waters, Ethel, 1896?–1977, African-American singer and actress, b. Chester, Pa. As a singer, she is noted for her sultry, sophisticated, and dramatic version of the blues, evinced in her interpretat...

Locris

(Encyclopedia)Locris lōˈkrĭs [key], region of central Greece. The state was probably in existence before the arrival of the Phocians. The rise of Doris and Phocis split the original region into western and easte...

Swinburne, Algernon Charles

(Encyclopedia)Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 1837–1909, English poet and critic. His poetry is noted for its vitality and for the music of its language. After attending Eton (1849–53) and Oxford (1856–60) he se...

Japanese literature

(Encyclopedia)Japanese literature, literary works produced in the language of the islands of Japan. See also Asian drama. The immense public demand for fiction in postwar Japan has been fed by the prolific o...

Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich

(Encyclopedia)Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich chĕkˈôf, Rus. əntônˈ pävˈləvĭch chĕˈkhəv [key], 1860–1904, Russian short-story writer, dramatist, and physician, b. Taganrog. The son of a grocer and grandson o...

Polanski, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Polanski, Roman, 1933–, Polish-French film director, b. Paris. His family returned to Kraków, Poland, when he was three. His parents were imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps and his mother died ...