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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...

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...

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...

notochord

(Encyclopedia)notochord nōˈtəkôrdˌ [key], in biology, supporting rod running most of the length of animals of the phylum Chordata and present at varying times in the life cycle. Composed of large cells packed ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Raimondi, Marcantonio

(Encyclopedia)Raimondi, Marcantonio märkäntôˈnyō rīmônˈdē [key], b. c.1480, d. before c.1534, Italian engraver. In Venice he was influenced by Dürer to such an extent that he plagiarized the German master...