Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wägner, Elin

(Encyclopedia)Wägner, Elin āˈlĭn vĕgˈnĕr [key], 1882–1949, Swedish novelist. Wägner was a leading feminist of her day. In early works such as Pennskaftet [the penholder] (1910), she deals with the social,...

Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth

(Encyclopedia)Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth hyälˈmär hyôrt boiˈĕsĕn [key], 1848–95, American writer, b. Norway, educated at the universities of Leipzig and Christiania (Ph.D., 1868). He came to the United States...

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...

Üsküdar

(Encyclopedia)Üsküdar sko͞oˈtərē [key], urban district, part of İstanbul, Turkey, on the Asian side of the Bosporus. It is a commercial and industrial center. Known as Chrysopolis in ancient times, it enjoye...

Wellington

(Encyclopedia)Wellington, city (1996 pop. 157,647; urban agglomeration 334,051), capital of New Zealand, extreme S North Island, on Port Nicholson, an inlet of Cook Strait. Socially and economically linked with Hut...

Ladislaus III, king of Poland

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus III, 1424–44, king of Poland (1434–44) and, as Uladislaus I, king of Hungary (1440–44), son of Ladislaus II. He led two crusades against the Ottomans; the first (1443) was highly succe...

Montluc, Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de

(Encyclopedia)Montluc or Monluc, Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de blĕz də läsräNˈ-mäsäNkômˈ, sānyörˈ də môNlükˈ [key], c.1502–1577, marshal of France. A Gascon soldier of fortune, he fo...

Anne of Bohemia

(Encyclopedia)Anne of Bohemia, 1366–94, queen consort of Richard II of England, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. She was married to Richard early in 1382 and quickly gained popularity in England. It was...

George of Trebizond

(Encyclopedia)George of Trebizond trĕbˈĭzŏnd [key], c.1396–1486, Greek scholar, b. Crete. Settling in Venice, he taught Greek, philosophy, and rhetoric there and in Vicenza before going to Rome in 1442. He be...

Browse by Subject