Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

192 results found

Henri, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Henri, Robert hĕnˈrī [key], 1865–1929, American painter and teacher, b. Cincinnati as Robert Henry Cozad. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1888 he went to Paris, where ...

Brautigan, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Brautigan, Richard brôˈtəgăn [key], 1935–84, American novelist and poet, b. Tacoma, Wash. He was a counterculture hero of the 1960s and 70s, and his work is an indictment of America's cultural e...

Mallarmé, Stéphane

(Encyclopedia)Mallarmé, Stéphane stāfänˈ mälärmāˈ [key], 1842–98, French poet. Mallarmé's great importance is as the chief forebear of the symbolists; the influence of his poetry was particularly felt b...

Unamuno, Miguel de

(Encyclopedia)Unamuno, Miguel de mēgĕlˈ dā o͞onämo͞oˈnō [key], 1864–1936, Spanish philosophical writer, of Basque descent, b. Bilbao. The chief Spanish philosopher of his time, he was professor of Greek ...

allegiance

(Encyclopedia)allegiance, in political terms, the tie that binds an individual to another individual or institution. The term usually refers to a person's legal obligation of obedience to a government in return for...

Burroughs, William Seward

(Encyclopedia)Burroughs, William Seward, 1914–97, American novelist, b. St. Louis, grad. Harvard, 1936, moved to New York City, 1943. He was an elder member of the beat generation. Junkie (1953), originally publi...

birdsong

(Encyclopedia)birdsong. Song, call notes, and certain mechanical sounds constitute the language of birds. Song is produced in the syrinx, whose firm walls are derived from the rings of the trachea, and is modified ...

boycott

(Encyclopedia)boycott, concerted economic or social ostracism of an individual, group, or nation to express disapproval or coerce change. The practice was named (1880) after Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott, an Eng...

San Francisco

(Encyclopedia)San Francisco săn frănsĭsˈkō [key], city (2020 pop. 873,965), coextensive with San Francisco co., W ...

Safra

(Encyclopedia)Safra, family of Brazilian bankers with Sephardic Jewish roots. They began as merchant bankers in Syria and Lebanon, financing caravans throughout the Middle East. The Safras are also noted philanthro...

Browse by Subject