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Alain de Lille

(Encyclopedia)Alain de Lille älăNˈ də lēl [key], c.1128–c.1202, French scholastic philosopher, a Cistercian, honored by his contemporaries as the Universal Doctor. He was born in Lille; he taught at Paris an...

Locke, Alain LeRoy

(Encyclopedia)Locke, Alain LeRoy, 1885–1954, American writer, educator, philosopher, and cultural critic, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (A.B., 1907; Ph.D., 1918), first African-American Rhodes Scholar at Oxford ...

Le Sage, Alain René

(Encyclopedia)Le Sage, Alain René älăNˈ rənāˈ ləsäzhˈ [key], 1668–1747, French novelist and dramatist. His masterpiece, Gil Blas de Santillane (1715–35, tr. by Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Gil B...

Chartier, Émile Auguste

(Encyclopedia)Chartier, Émile Auguste shärtyāˈ [key], 1868–1951, French essayist and philosopher who wrote under the pseudonym Alain. He is best known for thousands of aphoristic essays, called propos, which...

Bongo, Omar

(Encyclopedia)Bongo, Omar (El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba) bôngˈgō [key], 1935–2009, Gabonese political leader, president of Gabon (1967–2009), b. Albert-Bernard Bongo. He entered the civil service (1958), becam...

Buchwald, Art

(Encyclopedia)Buchwald, Art bŭkˈwôld, bo͝okˈ– [key], 1925–2006, American humorist, b. Mt. Vernon, N.Y. He began (1949) a syndicated entertainment column for the New York Herald Tribune while living in Pari...

Harlem Renaissance

(Encyclopedia)Harlem Renaissance, term used to describe a flowering of African-American literature and art in the 1920s, mainly in the Harlem district of New York City. During the mass migration of African American...

Duras, Marguerite

(Encyclopedia)Duras, Marguerite märgərētˈ düräsˈ [key], 1914–96, French author, b. Gia Dinh, Indochina (now Vietnam). Usually grouped with the exponents of the nouveau roman [new novel] (see French literat...

Berger, John Peter

(Encyclopedia)Berger, John Peter bûrˈjər [key], 1926–2017, British art critic, cultural historian, and writer, b. London. Berger, who began his career as a painter, is best known for his art criticism. He wrot...

Formula One

(Encyclopedia)Formula One (F1), type of racecar used in Grand Prix automobile racing. Capable of speeds exceeding 230 mph (370 kph), the technologically sophisticated F1 cars are low-slung, open-wheeled, single-sea...

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