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Curtis, George Ticknor

(Encyclopedia)Curtis, George Ticknor, 1812–94, American lawyer and writer, b. Watertown, Mass. A highly successful patent attorney, Curtis served in the Massachusetts legislature (1840–43) and as U.S. commissio...

Akutagawa, Ryunosuke

(Encyclopedia)Akutagawa, Ryunosuke chōkōˈdō sho͞oˈjĭn [key], 1892–1927, Japanese author. One of Japan's finest short-story writers, he derived many of his tales from historical Japanese sources, but told t...

Huxtable, Ada Louise

(Encyclopedia)Huxtable, Ada Louise hŭkˈstəbəl [key], 1921–2013, American architecture critic, b. New York City as Ada Louise Landman, grad. Hunter College (1941). As architecture critic for the New York Times...

Heredia, José María

(Encyclopedia)Heredia, José María hōsāˈ märēˈä ārāˈᵺēä [key], 1803–39, Cuban journalist and poet. He is considered the most lyrical of the poets writing during the period of the wars of independen...

Gregg, Josiah

(Encyclopedia)Gregg, Josiah, 1806–50, American trader and historian of the Santa Fe Trail, b. Overton co., Tenn. He moved with his family to Illinois (1809) and then to Missouri (1812). He gained wide knowledge f...

Gide, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Gide, Charles zhēd [key], 1847–1932, French economist. A professor at the universities of Bordeaux, Montpellier, and Paris, Gide was an expert on international monetary problems. He also played an...

Garbo, Greta

(Encyclopedia)Garbo, Greta, 1905–90, American film actress, b. Stockholm, Sweden, as Greta Gustafsson. Garbo's success in the Swedish film The Atonement of Gösta Berling (1923) brought her to Hollywood. Possessi...

Fleming, Renée

(Encyclopedia)Fleming, Renée, 1959–, American soprano, b. Indiana, Pa. In 1986 she made her professional debut in Salzburg, Austria, in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, and has since performed at Covent Gar...

Murasaki Shikibu

(Encyclopedia)Murasaki Shikibu mo͞oˌräsäˈkē shēˌkēbo͞oˈ [key], c.978–1031?, Japanese novelist, court figure at the height of the Heian period (794–1185). Known also as Lady Murasaki, she is celebrate...

Mitchel, John

(Encyclopedia)Mitchel, John, 1815–75, Irish revolutionist and journalist. A practicing lawyer, Mitchel contributed articles to the Nation (Dublin) and the United Irishman, which he founded in 1848, calling for re...