Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Bernhard, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Bernhard, Thomas, 1931–89, Austrian novelist and playwright. A literary descendent of Kafka and Beckett, Bernhard wrote dense, intensely pessimistic and provocative works. Typically, his novels are ...

Betterton, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Betterton, Thomas bĕtˈərtən [key], 1635?–1710, English actor and manager. He joined Sir William D'Avenant's company at Lincoln's Inn Fields theater in 1661 and became the leading actor of the Re...

Wentworth, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Wentworth, Thomas: see Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of. ...

West, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)West, Thomas: see De la Warr, Thomas West, 12th Baron. ...

Weelkes, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Weelkes, Thomas, c.1575–1623, English composer. His four books of madrigals (1597–1600) mark Weelkes as one of the great English madrigalists. His music is remarkable for melodic characterization ...

Ackroyd, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Ackroyd, Peter, 1949–, British author, b. London; studied Clare College, Cambridge (M.A., 1971) and Yale. A literary journalist, he wrote for the Spectator (1973–82), where he was literary and the...

literary frauds

(Encyclopedia)literary frauds, manuscripts that are presented to the public as works of famous authors but that are actually forgeries or imitations. Literary frauds are perpetrated for various reasons—occasional...

Bristol, city, England

(Encyclopedia)Bristol, city and unitary authority (2021 est. pop. 694,000), SW England, at the confluence of the Avon and Frome rivers. Bristol, a leading internation...

Vigny, Alfred Victor, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Vigny, Alfred Victor, comte de älfrĕdˈ vĕktôrˈ kôNt də vēnyēˈ [key], 1797–1863, French poet, novelist, and dramatist. One of the foremost romantics, Vigny expressed a philosophy of stoica...

Littleton, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Littleton, Sir Thomas, 1422?–1481, English jurist. He became a sergeant-at-law, i.e., a barrister, in the Court of Common Pleas in 1453 and a judge in 1466. He is best known for his Tenures, a short...