Atget, (jean-)eugène(-auguste)

Little is known of his early life. He was orphaned very young and lived with an uncle until he was old enough to go to sea as a cabin boy. After several voyages, he abandoned the sea for the stage. He soon

Amado, Jorge

Fred P. Ellison, Brazil's New Novel: Four Northeastern Masters (1954; reprinted 1979); Bobby J. Chamberlain, Jorge Amado (1990).

Diemen, Anthony Van

After an unsuccessful business career in Amsterdam, van Diemen joined the Dutch East India Company, serving in Batavia from 1618 and becoming governor general in 1636. To strengthen the company's

Widor, Charles-marie

The son and grandson of organ builders, Widor began his studies under his father and at the age of 11 became organist at the secondary school of Lyon. After studies in organ and composition in Brussels, he returned to Lyon (1860) to succeed his father as organist at Saint-François, where he remained for a decade.

Kudurru

The original kudurrus were kept in temples, while clay copies were given to the landowners. On the stone were engraved the clauses of the contract, the images or symbols of

Pietism

German  Pietismus   influential religious reform movement that began among German Lutherans in the 17th century. It emphasized personal faith against the main Lutheran church's perceived stress on doctrine and theology over Christian living. Pietism quickly spread and later became concerned with social and educational matters. As a phenomenon of personal religious renewal, its

Chi-hsi

Pinyin  Jixi,   city in southeastern Heilungkiang Province (sheng), China. Located on the upper Mu-leng Ho (river), it is in a mountainous area rich in timber and in various minerals, including coal, iron, oil shale, graphite, fluorite, and limestone. Chi-hsi is, however, predominantly a coal-mining city, with some of the largest and best equipped coal mines in China. The coal is of high quality

Kadu Languages

Also called  Kadugli-Krongo languages  group of related languages spoken along the western and southern edge of the Nuba Hills in The Sudan. These languages were formerly classified as part of the Kordofanian group within the Niger-Congo language family, but they are now widely believed to form a subgroup within the Nilo-Saharan language family. The name Kadu is based on a widespread word for “people” in

Taeniodont

Any member of an extinct order (Taeniodonta) of mammals that lived in North America throughout the Paleocene and into the middle Eocene Epoch (66.4 to 43 million years ago). The taeniodonts may have been related to early edentates (insect-eating mammals) and probably evolved from an insectivorous to an herbivorous diet. They were distinguished by high-crowned teeth extending

Godard, Benjamin (-louis-paul)

Godard was a child prodigy on the violin, studied composition, and in his youth composed symphonies, chamber works, concerti, and piano music. His best-known opera, Jocelyn (1881), is remembered for its famous “Berceuse.” Other works included the operas Pédro de Zalaméa (1884) and La Vivandière (1895) and his Symphonie

American Literature, Fiction

The little magazines that helped the growth of the poetry also contributed to a development of the fiction of the era. They printed daring or unconventional short stories and published attacks upon established writers. The Dial (1880–1929), the Little Review (1914–29), the Seven Arts (1916–17), and others encouraged modernist innovation. More potent were two magazines edited by the ferociously

Fell, John

Ordained in 1647, Fell was deprived of his fellowship at Oxford in 1648 for having fought with the Royalists against Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil Wars. Despite

Bridgman, Laura Dewey

Bridgman was struck by scarlet fever at the age of two and left without sight or hearing. Her other senses were also affected, but she retained the sense of touch, which she developed sufficiently to learn to sew and knit. In 1837 her case came to the attention

Ealing Studios

Also called  Associated Talking Pictures, Ltd.  English motion-picture studio, internationally remembered for a series of witty comedies that reflected the social conditions of post-World War II Britain. Founded in 1929 by two of England's best known producers, Basil Dean and Reginald Baker, with the financial support of the Courtauld family, manufacturers of textiles, the company opened its own distribution outlet

Blacher, Boris

Of German-Baltic descent, Blacher studied music in Irkutsk (Siberia) and Harbin, China, before going to Berlin in 1922. There he studied and taught before falling out of favour with the Nazis. After World War II he became

Kiangsi, Climate

Situated in the subtropical belt, Kiangsi has a hot and humid summer lasting more than four months, except in spots of high elevation, such as Lu-shan. High temperatures in Nan-ch'ang in July and August average 95° F (35° C). In winter temperature variations between north and south are greater. January temperatures in the north at times fall to 25° F (-4° C), while those in the south average

Philippines, The downfall of Marcos and return of democratic government

The assassination of Benigno Aquino as he returned to Manila in August 1983 was generally thought to have been the work of the military; it became the focal point of a renewed and more heavily supported opposition to Marcos' rule. By late 1985 Marcos, under mounting pressure both inside and outside the Philippines, called a snap presidential election for February 1986. Corazon

Abruzzi

Also called  Abruzzo,   regione, central Italy, fronting the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provincie of L'Aquila, Chieti, Pescara, and Teramo. Most of the region is mountainous or hilly, except for such intermontane basins as those of L'Aquila, Sulmona, and Fucino. The Apennines, the dominant physical feature, consist of three chains trending northwest-southeast, of which the easternmost,

Vouet, Simon

Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his “Two Lovers” indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. Works done after 1620, however, such as “St. Bruno” (1620) and “Cupid and

Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl Of, Baron Of Raby

Leading adviser of England's King Charles I. His attempt to consolidate the sovereign power of the king led to his impeachment and execution by Parliament.

Uitenhage

Town, Eastern province, South Africa, near the Indian Ocean, northwest of Port Elizabeth. It was founded in 1804 by J.A. Uitenhage de Mist, a Dutch governmental official sent to the Cape Colony by the government of the Batavian Republic, and it contains a number of 19th-century buildings, including the Drostdy (1815), Town Hall (1882, extended in 1952), and Court House (1898). Uitenhage is an industrial town,

Wigglesworth, Sir Vincent (brian)

English entomologist, noted for his contribution to the study of insect physiology. His investigations of the living insect body and its tissues and organs revealed much about the dynamic complexity of individual insects and their interactions with the environment. His Insect Physiology (1934) is often

Neoteros

Plural  Neoteroi,   any of a group of poets who sought to break away from the didactic-patriotic tradition of Latin poetry by consciously emulating the forms and content of Alexandrian Greek models. The neoteroi deplored the excesses of alliteration and onomatopoeia and the ponderous metres that characterized the epics and didactic works of the Latin Ennian tradition. They wrote

Hellenistic Age, Science and medicine

The three great areas of Hellenistic scholarship were medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. Alexandria attracted Herophilus (fl. 3rd century BC) from Chalcedon, who refused to stand in awe of the accepted medical dogmas and was distinguished in systematic anatomy, and the notable physiologist Erasistratus (fl. 3rd century BC) from Ceos, who realized that the heart is the

Acropolis

(Greek: “city at the top”), central, defensively oriented district in ancient Greek cities, located on the highest ground and containing the chief municipal and religious buildings. Because the founding of a city was a religious act, the establishment of a local home for the gods was a basic factor in Greek city planning. From both a religious and a military point of view,

X

American band whose tales of urban decay, corruption, and sleaze, delivered with skilled musicianship and unique vocal harmonies, marked them as important contributors to the punk movement. The original members were Exene Cervenka (original name Christine Cervenka; b. Feb. 1, 1956, Chicago, Ill., U.S.), John Doe (b. Feb. 25, 1954?, Decatur, Ill.), Billy Zoom (b. Feb. 20, 1949?, Illinois), and D.J. Bonebrake (b. Dec. 8, 1955, North

Intelligence

Military intelligence is as old as warfare itself. Even in biblical times, Moses sent spies to live with the Canaanites in order to learn about their ways and about their strengths and weaknesses. In the American Revolution George

Watercolour

Also spelled  Watercolor,  pigment ground in gum, usually gum arabic, and applied with brush and water to a painting surface, usually paper; the term also denotes a work of art executed in this medium. The pigment is ordinarily transparent but can be made opaque by mixing with a whiting and in this form is known as body colour, or gouache (q.v.); it can also be mixed with casein, a phosphoprotein of

Dachlan, Kijai Hadji Ahmad

Dachlan was a wealthy merchant who made the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly after 1900. On his return, he became active in religious reform activities, first in formalistic issues of ritual and subsequently

Lozi

Formerly, the groups were all called Barotse as subjects of the paramount chief of the dominant Barotse tribe; the Barotse nation extended into other parts of Zambia, Angola,