Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich chĕkˈôf, Rus. əntônˈ pävˈləvĭch chĕˈkhəv [key], 1860–1904, Russian short-story writer, dramatist, and physician, b. Taganrog. The son of a grocer and grandson o...

(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...

(Encyclopedia) Lusitania, liner under British registration, sunk off the Irish coast by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. In the sinking, 1,198 persons lost their lives, 128 of whom were U.S. citizens. A warning to...

(Encyclopedia) Meyerhold, Vsevolod fəsyĕˈvəlŭt mēˈûrhōlt [key], 1874–1940?, Russian theatrical director and producer. Meyerhold led the revolt against naturalism in the Russian theater. Working with the M...

(Encyclopedia) Madoff, Bernard Lawrence māˈdôf [key], 1938–2021, American stockbroker, investment manager, and ...

(Encyclopedia) Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797–1851, English author; daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1814 she fell in love with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, accompanied him abroad, and ...

(Encyclopedia) Blitzstein, Marc (Marcus Samuel Blitzstein), 1905–64, American composer, pianist, and librettist, b. Philadelphia. After attending the Univ. of Pennsylvania and the Curtis Institute of Music, he stu...

(Encyclopedia) Cadmus, Paul, 1904–99, American painter, b. N.Y.C.; studied National Academy of Design (1919–26), Art Students' League (1928). From 1933–35 he and painter Jared French traveled to Europe, where ...

(Encyclopedia) Chavín de Huántar chävēnˈ dā wänˈtär [key], archaeological site in the northeastern highlands of Peru, near the headwaters of the Marañon River. It flourished between c.900 b.c. and 200 b.c....

(Encyclopedia) pruning, the horticultural practice of cutting away an unwanted, unnecessary, or undesirable plant part, used most often on trees, shrubs, hedges, and woody vines. Man uses pruning to remove diseased ...