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Heinlein, Robert Anson MacDonald

(Encyclopedia)Heinlein, Robert Anson MacDonald hīˈlīn [key], 1907–88, American science-fiction writer, b. Butler, Mo. His best-known novel, Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), concerns a young man who is raised...

Schaff, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Schaff, Philip shäf [key], 1819–93, biblical scholar and church historian in America, b. Switzerland. He went to the United States in 1844 to teach in the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Churc...

Barthes, Roland

(Encyclopedia)Barthes, Roland rôläNˈ bärt [key], 1915–80, French critic. Barthes was one of the founding figures in the theoretical movement centered around the journal Tel Quel. In his earlier works, such as...

Pavese, Cesare

(Encyclopedia)Pavese, Cesare chāˈzärā pävĕˈsā [key], 1908–50, Italian novelist, poet, and translator. A major literary figure in postwar Italy, Pavese brought American influence to Italian literature thro...

Pali canon

(Encyclopedia)Pali canon päˈlē [key], sacred literature of Buddhism. The texts in the Pali canon are the earliest Buddhist sources, and for Theravada Buddhists, who claim to conserve the original teachings of th...

Lipsius, Justus

(Encyclopedia)Lipsius, Justus jŭsˈtəs lĭpˈsēəs [key], 1547–1606, Flemish scholar, whose original name was Joest Lips. He was one of the most celebrated authorities of his day on Roman literature, history, ...

De Sanctis, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)De Sanctis, Francesco fränchāsˈkō dā sängkˈtēs [key], 1817–83, Italian historian and literary critic. He was one of the founders of modern Italian literary criticism. He suffered imprisonmen...

Buck, Pearl Sydenstricker

(Encyclopedia)Buck, Pearl Sydenstricker sīˈdənstrĭkˌər [key], 1892–1973, American author, b. Hillsboro, W.Va., grad. Randolph-Macon Women's College, 1914, the first American woman to receive (1938) the Nobe...

Nabokov, Vladimir

(Encyclopedia)Nabokov, Vladimir vlädēˈmĭr näbôˈkŏf [key], 1899–1977, Russian-American author, b. St. Petersburg, Russia. He emigrated to England after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and graduated from Cam...

Fürst, Julius

(Encyclopedia)Fürst, Julius yo͞oˈlyo͝os fürst [key], 1805–73, German Orientalist. Fürst was a distinguished scholar of Semitic languages and literature of his time. During his years as chairman of the depar...