Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bidault, Georges zhôrzh bēdōˈ [key], 1899–1983, French political leader. An influential columnist (1932–39), he was imprisoned (1940–41) in World War II and then joined the French undergroun...

(Encyclopedia) Chastellain, Georges zhôrzh shätəlăNˈ [key], c.1405–1475, French chronicler, historiographer to the dukes of Burgundy. The surviving fragments of his Grande Chronique are a valuable 15th-centur...

(Encyclopedia) Sorel, Georges sôrĕlˈ [key], 1847–1922, French social philosopher. An engineer before he devoted himself to writing, Sorel found in the political and social life of bourgeois democracy the trium...

(Encyclopedia) Bonnet, Georges bônāˈ [key], 1889–1973, French politician. He entered politics as a Radical Socialist. A financial expert, he was prominent at international conferences on reparations and other ...

(Encyclopedia) Rodenbach, Georges zhôrzh rôdĕnbäkˈ [key], 1855–98, Belgian symbolist poet and novelist. Living in Paris from 1887, he wrote about Flemish life. His works include the poems Le Foyer et les cham...

(Encyclopedia) Darboy, Georges zhôrzh därbwäˈ [key], 1813–71, French churchman, bishop of Nancy (1859–63) and archbishop of Paris (1863–71). In the Franco-Prussian War he behaved heroically, notably in the...

(Encyclopedia) Bataille, Georges jôrj bətī, –bätī [key], 1897–1962, French writer. Bataille was the founding editor of the journal Critique (1946). Strongly influenced by Nietzsche, he focuses on extreme st...

(Encyclopedia) Picquart, Georges zhôrzh pēkärˈ [key], 1854–1914, French general. As chief of the army intelligence section in 1896, he discovered that the memorandum that had been used to convict Captain Dreyf...

(Encyclopedia) Pitoëff, Georges zhôrzh pēˈtōĕf [key], 1884–1939, Russian actor-manager. Although he had both engineering and law degrees, Pitoeff was drawn to the theater. He directed his own amateur company...

(Encyclopedia) Lefebvre, Georges ləfĕˈvrə [key], 1874–1959, French historian, an authority on the French Revolutionary period. From 1937 to 1945 he held the chair of French Revolutionary history at the Sorbon...