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Wilson, Edward Osborne
(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Edward Osborne, 1929–2021, American sociobiologist, b. Birmingham, Ala., Univ. of Alabama (B.S., 1949; M.S.,1950), Harvard Univ (Ph.D., 1955)....Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de
(Encyclopedia)Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de äNrēˈ də to͞olo͞ozˈ lōtrĕkˈ [key], 1864–1901, French painter and lithographer, b. Albi. Son of a wealthy nobleman, Lautrec fell and broke both legs when he was a...Ferrante, Elena
(Encyclopedia)Ferrante, Elena, pseud. of the contemporary writer often considered the finest Italian novelist of her generation; the details of her personal life are a closely guarded secret. Her novels, the first ...Maupassant, Guy de
(Encyclopedia)Maupassant, Guy de gē də mōpäsäNˈ [key], 1850–93, French novelist and short-story writer, of an ancient Norman family. He worked in a government office at Paris and became known c.1880 as the ...Cato the Elder
(Encyclopedia)Cato the Elder kāˈtō [key] or Cato the Censor, Lat. Cato Major or Cato Censorius, 234–149 b.c., Roman statesman and moralist, whose full name was Marcus Porcius Cato. He fought in the Second Puni...Valentinus
(Encyclopedia)Valentinus văləntēˈnəs [key], fl. c.135–c.160, founder of the Valentinians, the most celebrated of the Gnostic sects (see Gnosticism) of the 2d cent. The little that is known of his life is fou...Basquiat, Jean-Michel
(Encyclopedia)Basquiat, Jean-Michel bäsˌkē-ätˈ [key], 1960–88, American painter, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Born into a middle-class Haitian and Puerto Rican family, he was a 1980s art star whose rise and fall were r...Bloom, Harold
(Encyclopedia)Bloom, Harold, 1930–2019, American literary critic and scholar, b. The Bronx, N.Y., Ph.D. Yale (1955). The son of Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Russia, he was Sterling Professor of Humanities at Y...purgatory
(Encyclopedia)purgatory pûrgˈətôrˌē [key] [Lat.,=place of purging], in the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, the state after death in which the soul destined for heaven is purified. Since only the perfec...Qian Zhongshu
(Encyclopedia)Qian Zhongshu or Ch'ien Chung-shu, 1910–98, Chinese writer and scholar, grad. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (1933). After attending Oxford and the Sorbonne, he returned (1939) to China and taught at sever...Browse by Subject
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