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Todorov, Tzvetan

(Encyclopedia)Todorov, Tzvetan, 1939–2017, Bulgarian-French literary theorist, historian of ideas, and sociologist, b. Sofia, Bulgaria, Ph.D. Univ. of Paris, 1966. He joined (1968) the National Center for Scienti...

Lasso, Orlando di

(Encyclopedia)Lasso, Orlando di ōrlänˈdō dē läsˈsō [key], 1532–94, Franco-Flemish composer, b. Mons, also known as Orlandus Lassus or Roland de Lassus. Lasso represents the culmination of Renaissance musi...

Daudet, Alphonse

(Encyclopedia)Daudet, Alphonse älfôNsˈ dōdāˈ [key], 1840–97, French writer, b. Nîmes (Provence). Daudet made his mark with gentle naturalistic stories and novels portraying French life both in the province...

atomic weight

(Encyclopedia)atomic weight, mean (weighted average) of the masses of all the naturally occurring isotopes of a chemical element, as contrasted with atomic mass, which is the mass of any individual isotope. Althoug...

epic

(Encyclopedia)epic, long, exalted narrative poem, usually on a serious subject, centered on a heroic figure. The earliest epics, known as primary, or original, epics, were shaped from the legends of an age when a n...

structuralism

(Encyclopedia)structuralism, theory that uses culturally interconnected signs to reconstruct systems of relationships rather than studying isolated, material things in themselves. This method found wide use from th...

Baudrillard, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Baudrillard, Jean, 1929–2007, French social theorist and cultural critic. Trained as a sociologist, he taught at the Univ. of Paris X, Nanterre, from 1966 to 1987 and was a prolific writer. Influenc...

Charlemagne

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Carolingian Empire (814) Charlemagne (Charles the Great or Charles I) shärˈləmān [key] [O.Fr.,=Charles the great], 742?–814, emperor of the West (800–814), Carolingian king of the Fran...

Robbe-Grillet, Alain

(Encyclopedia)Robbe-Grillet, Alain älăNˈ rôb-grēyāˈ [key], 1922–2008, French novelist and filmmaker, b. Brest. Robbe-Grillet is considered the originator of the French nouveau roman [new novel], in which c...

Bremen

(Encyclopedia)Bremen brāˈmən [key], city, capital of the state of Bremen, NW Germany, on the Weser River...

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