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Pynchon, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, Thomaspn´chn, 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 comple...

Pynchon, John

(Encyclopedia)Pynchon, John pn´chn [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...

Cowley, Malcolm

(Encyclopedia)Cowley, Malcolm kou´l [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 he wr...

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...

Willing, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Willing, Thomas, 1731–1821, American merchant and financier, b. Philadelphia. He studied law in London. Returning to Philadelphia in 1749, he entered his father's business and later established with...

Willis, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Willis, Thomas, 1621–75, English physician and anatomist. He became professor at Oxford in 1660 and in 1666 established a practice in London. An authority on the brain and the nervous system, he dis...

Usk, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Usk, Thomas sk [key], d. 1388, English politician and author. He was under-sheriff of London. While in Newgate Prison he wrote Testament of Love, an allegory in prose describing and justifying the p...

Fitch, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fitch, Thomas, c.1700–1774, colonial governor of Connecticut, b. Norwalk, Conn. A lawyer, Fitch was an assistant in the colony (1734–35, 1740–50). The assembly elected him deputy governor in 175...

Fitzgerald, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Fitzgerald, Thomas: see Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th earl of.