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euthanasia

(Encyclopedia)euthanasia yo͞oˌthənāˈzhə [key], either painlessly putting to death or failing to prevent death from natural causes in cases of terminal illness or irreversible coma. The term comes from the Gre...

Australian literature

(Encyclopedia)Australian literature, the literature of Australia. Because the vast majority of early Australian settlers were transported prisoners, the beginnings of Australian literature were oral rather than wri...

Lampman, Archibald

(Encyclopedia)Lampman, Archibald, 1861–99, Canadian poet, b. Ontario. A post office employee all his life, he was a noted nature poet. His work appeared in Among the Millet (1888), Lyrics of Earth (1893), and Alc...

Ariès, Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Ariès, Philippe, 1914–84, French cultural historian, b. Paris. While at the Sorbonne, he failed a crucial exam necessary for a university career, and instead became an agronomic researcher and late...

Meléndez, Luis

(Encyclopedia)Meléndez, Luis lo͞oēsˈ mālānˈdāth [key], 1716–80, Spanish painter. He assisted his father, artist Francisco Melendez, until 1737, when he began studying with Lewis-Michel Vanloo, the court p...

McInerney, Jay

(Encyclopedia)McInerney, Jay (John Barrett McInerney, Jr.), 1955–, American writer, b. Hartford, Conn. After graduating from Williams College (1976), he studied creative writing with Raymond Carver at Syracuse Un...

Longhi, Pietro

(Encyclopedia)Longhi, Pietro pyāˈtrō lôngˈgē [key], 1702–85, Venetian genre painter. Longhi studied with Crespi in Bologna. He is best known for his small pictures depicting the life of upper-middle-class V...

Handlin, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Handlin, Oscar, 1915–2011, American historian, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Brooklyn College (B.A., 1934). He received his Ph.D (1940) from Harvard and taught there from 1939 to 1984. Most of his work i...

Hall, Donald

(Encyclopedia)Hall, Donald (Donald Andrew Hall, Jr.), 1928–2018, American poet, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Harvard (B.A., 1951), Oxford (1953). He published more than 50 books, ranging from poetry, short stories,...