Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

174 results found

closet drama

(Encyclopedia)closet drama, a play that is meant to be read rather than performed. Precursors of the form existed in classical times. Plato's Apology is often regarded as tragic drama rather than philosophic dialog...

Eikon Basilike

(Encyclopedia)Eikon Basilike īˈkŏn bəsĭlˈĭkē [key] [Gr.,=royal image], subtitled “the Portraiture of His Sacred Majesty in His Solitudes and Sufferings,” a work published soon after the execution of Cha...

Jones, Robert Edmond

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Robert Edmond, 1887–1954, American scene designer, b. Milton, N.H. With his design in 1915 for The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife, a new era of scene design began in the United States. His use o...

Jackson, Shirley

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Shirley, 1916–65, American writer, b. San Francisco. She is best known for her stories and novels of horror and the occult, rendered more terrifying because they are set against realistic, ...

Joplin, Janis

(Encyclopedia)Joplin, Janis jŏpˈlĭn [key], 1943–70, American blues-rock singer, b. Port Arthur, Tex. After dropping out of college (1963) and singing folk rock in Texas clubs, she moved (1966) to San Francisco...

Fromm, Erich

(Encyclopedia)Fromm, Erich ĕrˈĭkh frōm, frŏm [key], 1900–1980, psychoanalyst and author, b. Frankfurt, Germany, Ph.D. Univ. of Heidelberg, 1922. From 1929 to 1932 he lectured at the Psychoanalytic Institute,...

Nicolson, Marjorie Hope

(Encyclopedia)Nicolson, Marjorie Hope, 1894–1981, American educator, b. Yonkers, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Michigan (B.A., 1914; M.A., 1918) and Yale (Ph.D., 1920). She was dean and professor at Smith from 1929 to 194...

Salmasius, Claudius

(Encyclopedia)Salmasius, Claudius klôdˈēəs sălmāˈshəs [key], 1588–1653, French humanist and philologist. Salmasius is known in French as Claude de Saumaise. After studying Latin and Greek with his father,...

Empson, William

(Encyclopedia)Empson, William, 1906–84, English critic and poet. His Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), a study of the meanings of poetry, is a classic of modern literary criticism. It was followed by Some Versions...

Ronstadt, Linda

(Encyclopedia)Ronstadt, Linda (Linda Maria Ronstadt), 1946–, American singer, b. Tucson, Ariz. She is known for the clarity and strength of her soprano voice and for the range of song genres in which she performe...
 

Browse by Subject