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Lee, Ang

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Ang äng [key], 1954–, Taiwanese filmmaker. Lee is one of the few directors who have achieved commercial and critical success in Asia and the United States, and is also unusual in the wide rang...

McNally, Terrence

(Encyclopedia)McNally, Terrence, 1939–2020, American playwright, b. St. Petersburg, Fla., grad. Columbia, 1960. Known for his dark humor, social satire, and focus on human isolation and the need to connect, he of...

Matthiessen, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Matthiessen, Peter măthˈəsən [key], American writer, naturalist, and adventurer, b. New York City, grad. Yale (1950). A founder (1951) of the literary Paris Review, he published his first novel, R...

Assassin

(Encyclopedia)Assassin əsăsˈĭn [key], European name for the member of a secret order of the Ismaili sect of Islam. They are known as Nizaris after Nizar ibn al-Mustansir, whom they supported as caliph; the Euro...

Banville, John

(Encyclopedia)Banville, John, 1945–, Irish novelist. His novels, which stress language over plot and narrative, are written in a dense, elaborate, and highly original blend of poetry and prose. They are allusive,...

Gielgud, Sir John

(Encyclopedia)Gielgud, Sir John (Arthur John Gielgud) gĭlˈgo͝od [key], 1904–2000, English actor, director, and producer. A grandnephew of Ellen Terry, Gielgud made his debut at the Old Vic in 1921. His intelli...

poisonous plant

(Encyclopedia)poisonous plant, any plant possessing a property injurious to man or animal. Plants may be poisonous to the touch (e.g., poison ivy, poison sumac), or orally toxic (e.g., poison hemlock, deadly amanit...

Poitier, Sir Sidney

(Encyclopedia)Poitier, Sir Sidney, 1927–2022, Bahamian-American actor, b. Miami, raised in the Bahamas, returned to the United States at 14. Poitier served in the 1...

Galsworthy, John

(Encyclopedia)Galsworthy, John gôlzˈwûrᵺē, gălzˈ– [key], 1867–1933, English novelist and dramatist. Winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature, he is best remembered for his series of novels tracing t...

Hutchinson, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hutchinson, Thomas, 1711–80, colonial governor of Massachusetts (1771–74) and historian, b. Boston. A descendant of Anne Hutchinson, he was a man of wealth and prominence, of learning, and of nota...