Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Meyerbeer, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Meyerbeer, Giacomo jäˈkōmō mīˈyərbĕr [key], 1791–1864, German operatic composer. He traveled in Italy and experimented in various styles of composition, but his real success came only with h...

Oyono, Ferdinand Léopold

(Encyclopedia)Oyono, Ferdinand Léopold ōyōˈnō, ōˌyōnōˈ [key], 1929–2010, Cameroonian statesman and novelist writing in French. After studying in Africa and in Paris at the Law School and the National Sc...

Washington, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Washington. 1 City (1990 pop. 10,838), seat of Daviess co., SW Ind.; settled 1805, inc. as a city 1871. Turkey processing and farming are the chief economic activities, and there is light manufacturin...

Bolton

(Encyclopedia)Bolton or Bolton-le-Moors bōlˈtən-lə-mo͝orz [key], metropolitan borough, NW England,...

Chabrol, Claude

(Encyclopedia)Chabrol, Claude klōd shäbrōlˈ [key], 1930–2010, French filmmaker, b. Paris, attended Univ. of Paris. One of the creators of the French “new wave” cinema of the 1950s and 60s, he and such oth...

Kirby, William

(Encyclopedia)Kirby, William, 1817–1906, Canadian author, b. England. He was a journalist and civil servant. Besides volumes of verse and tales, he wrote The Golden Dog (1877), also published as Le Chien d'or (18...

Crémazie, Octave

(Encyclopedia)Crémazie, Octave (Joseph Octave Crémazie) zhôzĕfˈ ôktävˈ krāmäzēˈ [key], 1822–79, French Canadian poet, b. Quebec, considered the father of French Canadian poetry. With his brothers he w...

Montherlant, Henri de

(Encyclopedia)Montherlant, Henri de äNrēˈ də môNtĕrläNˈ [key], 1896–1972, French writer. His novels are decadent and egotistical and glorify force and masculinity. Montherlant fought in World War I and wa...

Romains, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Romains, Jules zhül rômăNˈ [key], 1885–1972, French writer, whose original name was Louis Farigoule. A brilliant student of philosophy, he became known as the chief exponent of unanimism, a lite...

Shelby, Carroll Hall

(Encyclopedia)Shelby, Carroll Hall, 1923–2012, automobile racer and designer, b. Leesburg, Tex. After serving as a flight instructor in World War II, he began (1952) a career as a race-car driver. He was Sports I...