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Pynchon, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, Thomas pĭnˈchən [key], 1937–, American novelist, b. Glen Cove, N.Y., grad. Cornell, 1958. Pynchon is noted for his amazingly fertile imagination, his wild sense of humor, and the teeming...

Pynchon, John

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, John pĭnˈchən [key], c.1626–1703, American colonist and merchant, b. England; son of William Pynchon. He emigrated to Massachusetts Bay colony with his father in 1630. When his father re...

Pynchon, William

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, William, c.1590–1662, American colonist and theologian, b. England. An original patentee and assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company, he migrated to America in 1630, where he helped foun...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

Cowley, Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Cowley, Malcolm kouˈlē [key], 1898–1989, American critic and poet, b. Belsano, Pa., grad. Harvard, 1920. He lived abroad in the 1920s and knew many writers of the “lost generation,” about whom...

Kyd, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Kyd or Kid, Thomas, 1558–94, English dramatist, b. London. The son of a scrivener, he evidently followed his father's profession for a few years. In the 1580s he began writing plays. His literary fa...

Ken, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Ken, Thomas, 1637–1711, English prelate and hymn writer, prominent among the nonjuring bishops. He became chaplain to Charles II in 1680 and was nominated by that monarch to the bishopric of Bath an...

Keneally, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Keneally, Thomas kənēˈlē [key], 1935–, Australian novelist, b. Sydney. For a time a student of religion, and later of law, Keneally has ranged over a wide spectrum of subjects in his many novels...

Middleton, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Middleton, Thomas, 1580–1627, English dramatist, b. London, grad. Queen's College, Oxford, 1598. His early plays were chiefly written in collaboration with Dekker, Drayton, and others. Between 1604 ...

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