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Platonov, Andrei

(Encyclopedia)Platonov, Andrei ändrāˈ plŏˈtənûf [key], 1899–1951, Russian novelist and short-story writer. Platonov's writing focuses on the threat industrialization poses to human and spiritual values. Hi...

Young, Andrew Jackson, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Young, Andrew Jackson, Jr., 1932–, African-American leader, clergyman, and public official, b. New Orleans. He was a leading civil-rights activist in the 1960s and, as a Democrat from Georgia, serve...

Zhelev, Zhelyu Mitev

(Encyclopedia)Zhelev, Zhelyu Mitev, 1935–2015, Bulgarian political leader. Initially a member of the Communist party, he was disciplined for his dissident political views and expelled from the party in 1965. Late...

Wesker, Arnold

(Encyclopedia)Wesker, Arnold, 1932–, English playwright, b. London. At various times he has been a carpenter's mate, a seed sorter, and a pastry cook. His plays Chicken Soup with Barley (1958), Roots (1958), and ...

Borrow, George Henry

(Encyclopedia)Borrow, George Henry, 1803–81, English writer and traveler. He led a nomadic life in England and on the Continent, where he was a translator and agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society. His ...

Auster, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Auster, Paul ôˈstər [key], 1947–, American writer, b. Newark, N.J. After publishing four volumes of poetry, he wrote his first novel, Squeeze Play (1982). A compelling storyteller, Auster became ...

Merrill, James

(Encyclopedia)Merrill, James (James Ingram Merrill), 1926–95, American poet, b. New York City. Born into wealth as the son of Charles Merrill, he studied at Amherst College (grad. 1947) and was free to live as he...

Roche, Kevin

(Encyclopedia)Roche, Kevin, 1922–2019, Irish-American architect, b. Dublin, grad. National Univ. of Ireland, Dublin (1943) and, after immigrating (1948) to the United States, studied Illinois Institute of Technol...

Crane, Hart

(Encyclopedia)Crane, Hart (Harold Hart Crane), 1899–1932, American poet, b. Garrettsville, Ohio. He published only two volumes of poetry during his lifetime, but those works established Crane as one of the most o...

Goytisolo, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Goytisolo, Juan (Juan Goytisolo Gay) hwän goitēsōˈlō [key], 1931–2017, Spanish writer, b. Barcelona. Goytisolo is considered among the foremost novelists who wrote in Spanish in the late 20th c...