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Brandywine, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Brandywine, battle of, in the American Revolution, fought Sept. 11, 1777, along Brandywine Creek. The creek, formed by two small branches in SE Pennsylvania, flows southeast to join, near Wilmington, ...

Whitby, Synod of

(Encyclopedia)Whitby, Synod of, called by King Oswy of Northumbria in 663 at Whitby, England. Its purpose was to choose between the usages of the Celtic and Roman churches, primarily in the matter of reckoning the ...

Kincaid, Jamaica

(Encyclopedia)Kincaid, Jamaica, 1949–, West Indian–American writer, b. Antigua as Elaine Potter Richardson. She immigrated to the United States at 16 and later became a U.S. citizen. Changing her name (1973), s...

Adler, H. G.

(Encyclopedia)Adler, H. G. (Hans Günther Adler) häns günˈtər ädˈlər [key], 1910–88, modernist author and Holocaust studies pioneer, b. Prague to a German Jewish family, studied Charles Univ. He and his fa...

Woolf, Virginia

(Encyclopedia)Woolf, Virginia, 1882–1941, English novelist and essayist, b. Adeline Virgina Stephen; daughter of Sir Leslie Stephen. A successful innovator in the form of the novel, she is considered a significan...

realism, in literature

(Encyclopedia)realism, in literature, an approach that attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Although realism is not limited to any one century or group of writers, it is most oft...

transmigration of souls

(Encyclopedia)transmigration of souls or metempsychosis mətĕmˌsəkōˈsĭs [key] [Gr.,=change of soul], a belief common to many cultures, in which the soul passes from one body to another, either human, animal, ...

Yogacara

(Encyclopedia)Yogacara yōˌgəkärˈə [key] [Skt.,=yoga practice], philosophical school of Mahayana Buddhism, also known as the Vijnanavada or Consciousness School. The founders of this school in India were Maitr...

Mexico, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Mexico, Gulf of, arm of the Atlantic Ocean, c.700,000 sq mi (1,813,000 sq km), SE North America. The Gulf stretches more than 1,100 mi (1,770 km) from west to east and c.800 mi (1,290 km) from north t...

lake, body of water

(Encyclopedia)lake, inland body of standing water occupying a hollow in the earth's surface. The study of lakes and other freshwater basins is known as limnology. Lakes are of particular importance since they act a...