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Tiresias

(Encyclopedia)Tiresias tīrēˈshəs, –sēəs [key], in Greek mythology, a blind soothsayer who appears in many legends. According to one myth, when he saw Athena bathing she blinded him, but by way of compensati...

Pandarus

(Encyclopedia)Pandarus pănˈdərəs [key], in Greek legend, a Trojan warrior. In the Trojan War (as recounted in Homer's Iliad) he broke the truce by wounding Menelaus and soon after was killed by Diomed. In the m...

Vatel, François

(Encyclopedia)Vatel, François fräNswäˈ vätĕlˈ [key], fl. 17th cent., French chef, famous in the time of Louis XIV. Mme Marie de Sévigné, in her letters, speaks of him as the chef of the prince of Condé an...

Spyri, Johanna

(Encyclopedia)Spyri, Johanna yōhänˈä shpēˈrē [key], 1827–1901, Swiss author. Her many stories of child life in Switzerland include Heidi (1880; tr. 1884), a classic among children's books. Heidi, the story...

hyrax

(Encyclopedia)hyrax hīˈrăks [key], name for rabbit-sized mammals of Africa and SW Asia comprising the family Procavidae. Although rodentlike in appearance, hyraxes are hoofed mammals, or ungulates (see Chordata)...

Dreiser, Theodore

(Encyclopedia)Dreiser, Theodore drīˈsər, –zər [key], 1871–1945, American novelist, b. Terre Haute, Ind. A pioneer of naturalism in American literature, Dreiser wrote novels reflecting his mechanistic view o...

Leonard, William Ellery

(Encyclopedia)Leonard, William Ellery, 1876–1944, American poet, b. Plainfield, N.J., grad. Boston Univ., 1899, Ph.D. Columbia, 1904. For many years he was professor of English at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Of his n...

Larreta, Enrique Rodríguez

(Encyclopedia)Larreta, Enrique Rodríguez ānrēˈkā rôᵺrēˈgāth lärrāˈtä [key], 1875–1961, Argentine novelist. Larreta lived for many years in Spain and France. His fame rests on La gloria de don Ramir...

Hémon, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Hémon, Louis lwē āmôNˈ [key], 1880–1913, French Canadian novelist, b. France. After working as a journalist for French publications in England (1903–11), he moved to Quebec, where he worked a...

Ham, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Ham, in the Bible, son of Noah. In biblical ethnography, Ham is the father of the nations Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. In a story separate from the flood narrative, the legend related in the Book ...