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book clubs

(Encyclopedia)book clubs. As a phenomenon in American cultural life, book clubs have made an impact in two periods of history. During the 18th and 19th cent. book clubs were formed for the purposes of discussion an...

Landon, Letitia Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Landon, Letitia Elizabeth, pseud. L.E.L., 1802–38, English poet and novelist. Although no longer highly regarded, she was one of the best-known and popular literary figures of her day. Dubbed the �...

Armenian literature

(Encyclopedia)Armenian literature. The Armenian Church fostered literature, and the principal early works are religious or hagiographical, most of them translations. The first major Armenian literary work is a 5th ...

Bourget, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bourget, Paul pôl bo͞orzhāˈ [key], 1852–1935, French novelist. His early novels were naturalistic, but Le Disciple (1889, tr. 1901), a tale of the destruction of a pupil who applies his master's...

Hazlitt, William

(Encyclopedia)Hazlitt, William, 1778–1830, English essayist. The son of a reform-mindeed Unitarian minister, he abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and took up painting, philosophy, and later journalism. He...

Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn

(Encyclopedia)Masudi, Abd al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn mäso͞oˈdē [key], d. 956, Arab historian, geographer, and philosopher, b. Baghdad. He traveled in Spain, Russia, India, Sri Lanka, and China and spent his las...

De Sanctis, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)De Sanctis, Francesco fränchāsˈkō dā sängkˈtēs [key], 1817–83, Italian historian and literary critic. He was one of the founders of modern Italian literary criticism. He suffered imprisonmen...

Kisfaludy, Károly

(Encyclopedia)Kisfaludy, Károly käˈroi kĭshˈfŏlo͞odē [key], 1788–1830, Hungarian dramatist, founder of the Hungarian national drama. Kisfaludy traveled abroad extensively and studied painting before he re...

socialist realism

(Encyclopedia)socialist realism, Soviet artistic and literary doctrine. The role of literature and art in Soviet society was redefined in 1932 when the newly created Union of Soviet Writers proclaimed socialist rea...

Krutch, Joseph Wood

(Encyclopedia)Krutch, Joseph Wood kro͝och [key], 1893–1970, American author, editor, and teacher, b. Knoxville, Tenn., grad. Univ. of Tennessee, 1915, Ph.D. Columbia, 1923. He was on the editorial staff of the N...