Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Cable, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)Cable, George Washington, 1844–1925, American author, b. New Orleans. He is remembered primarily for his early sketches and novels of creole life, which established his reputation as an important lo...

Betjeman, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Betjeman, Sir John bĕtˈjəmən [key], 1906–84, English poet, b. London. Traditional in rhyme and meter, his verse combined a witty appraisal of the English present with nostalgia for England's pas...

Snyder, Gary

(Encyclopedia)Snyder, Gary, 1930–, American poet, b. San Francisco. Associated with the beat generation of the 1950s, he lived (1956–68) in Japan, where he trained as a Zen monk. His poetry, influenced by Zen B...

Stijl, de

(Encyclopedia)Stijl, de də stīl [key] [Du.,=the style], Dutch nonfigurative art movement, also called neoplasticism. In 1917 a group of artists, architects, and poets was organized under the name de Stijl, and a ...

Strand, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Strand, Paul, 1890–1976, American photographer, b. New York City. Strand studied under Lewis Hine, who introduced him to Alfred Stieglitz. At Stieglitz's famed “291” gallery, Strand had his firs...

Beiderbecke, Bix

(Encyclopedia)Beiderbecke, Bix (Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke) bīˈdərbĕk [key], 1903–31, American jazz cornetist, pianist, and composer, b. Davenport, Iowa. Mainly self-taught, he was influenced by recordings of ...

Carmichael, Stokely

(Encyclopedia)Carmichael, Stokely, 1941–98, African-American social activist, b. Trinidad. He lived in New York City from 1952 and graduated from Howard Univ. in 1964. Carmichael participated in the Congress of R...

Comanche

(Encyclopedia)Comanche kəmănˈchē [key], Native North Americans belonging to the Shoshonean group of the Uto-Aztecan branch of the Aztec-Tanoan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They originated f...

Coen Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Coen Brothers, American filmmakers Joel Coen, 1955–, and Ethan Coen, 1958–, both b. St. Louis Park, Minn. Joel studied at New York Univ. Film School (B.A., 1978), Ethan at Princeton (B.A., 1979). ...

Munro, Alice

(Encyclopedia)Munro, Alice, 1931–, Canadian writer, b. Wingham, Ont., as Alice Ann Laidlaw. Much acclaimed as one of the finest contemporary short-story writers, Munro is known for quiet, insightfully realistic, ...