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Henryson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Henryson, Robert, c.1425–c.1506, Scottish poet. It is thought that he was a schoolmaster at Dunfermline Abbey. His principal poem is The Testament of Cresseid, which was written as a harshly moral e...

Gotthelf, Jeremias

(Encyclopedia)Gotthelf, Jeremias yārāmēˈäs gôtˈhĕlf [key], 1797–1854, Swiss writer and clergyman. His real name was Albert Bitzius; his pen name is that of the hero of his autobiographical Bauernspiegel (...

Kerr, Jean Collins

(Encyclopedia)Kerr, Jean Collins, 1923–2003, American comic author and playwright, b. Scranton, Pa., wife of Walter Kerr. Kerr had a knack for finding wry humor in the worlds of marriage, suburbia, and show busin...

Bergman, Hjalmar

(Encyclopedia)Bergman, Hjalmar yälˈmär bĕrˈyəmän [key], 1883–1931, Swedish novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer. A popular and prolific writer, Bergman wrote from the background of an unhappy childh...

Ade, George

(Encyclopedia)Ade, George, 1866–1944, American humorist and dramatist, b. Kentland, Ind., grad. Purdue Univ., 1887. His newspaper sketches and books attracted attention for their racy and slangy idiom and for the...

Quidor, John

(Encyclopedia)Quidor, John kĭdôrˈ [key], 1801–81, American painter, b. Tappan, N.Y., studied with J. W. Jarvis. Little appreciated in his own time, he was subsequently accorded a place among the best early Ame...

Pynchon, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, Thomas pĭnˈchən [key], 1937–, American novelist, b. Glen Cove, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1958. Pynchon is noted for his amazingly fertile imagination, his wild sense of humor, and the teeming...

Deledda, Grazia

(Encyclopedia)Deledda, Grazia gräˈtsēä dālĕdˈdä [key], 1875–1936, Italian novelist, b. Sardinia. Her first work, a collection of short stories, was published when she was 19. She was awarded the Nobel Pri...

du Bois, Guy Pène

(Encyclopedia)du Bois, Guy Pène gē pĕn dü bwä [key], 1884–1958, American painter and critic, b. Brooklyn, N.Y.; studied under William Chase and in Paris. In New York City after 1906 he worked as a reporter a...

Gibson, Charles Dana

(Encyclopedia)Gibson, Charles Dana, 1867–1944, American illustrator, b. Roxbury, Mass., studied at the Art Students League and in Paris. His work for Life, Century, Harper's, Scribner's, Collier's Weekly, and oth...