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magic realism

(Encyclopedia)magic realism, primarily Latin American literary movement that arose in the 1960s. The term has been attributed to the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, who first applied it to Latin-American fiction in ...

French language

(Encyclopedia)CEE French language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). It is spoken as a first language by more than 70 million p...

Gray, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Gray, Robert, 1755–1806, American sea captain, discoverer of the Columbia River, b. Tiverton, R.I. He probably served in the Continental navy in the American Revolution. In 1787 he and Capt. John Ke...

Paine, Robert Treat

(Encyclopedia)Paine, Robert Treat, 1731–1814, political figure in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Boston, Mass. He served briefly as a chaplain in the French and Indian War ...

Leverett, John

(Encyclopedia)Leverett, John lĕvˈərĭt [key], 1616–79, American colonial governor, b. Boston, England. He went to Boston, Mass., with his father in 1633, but went back (1644) to England to serve in the parliam...

Calef, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Calef, Robert kāˈləf [key], 1648–1719, known primarily as author of More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700). A Boston cloth merchant, probably born in England, he bitterly attacked Cotton Math...

Ward, Artemas

(Encyclopedia)Ward, Artemas ärˈtĭməs [key], 1727–1800, American general in the American Revolution, b. Shrewsbury, Mass. He was active in colonial politics and served in the French and Indian War. As head of ...

Wayland

(Encyclopedia)Wayland, town (1990 pop. 11,874), Middlesex co., E Mass., W of Boston; settled c.1638, inc. 1835. Electronic and chemical research is carried on there. ...

R

(Encyclopedia)R, 18th letter of the alphabet, corresponding to Greek rho. When in Latin alphabets the letters for p and r became similar in appearance, the rho form (P; which at first was used for the r sound) was ...

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