Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Lampedusa, Giuseppe di jo͞ozĕpˈpā dē lämpādo͞oˈzä [key], 1896–1957, Italian novelist. A wealthy Sicilian prince, Lampedusa drew on his family's history for his internationally acclaimed wo...

(Encyclopedia) Arlen, Michael, 1895–1956, English novelist, b. Bulgaria as Dikran Kuyumjian. The son of Armenian parents, he was brought to England as a child. In 1922 he became a British subject and changed his n...

(Encyclopedia) Olivier, Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron, 1859–1943, British colonial administrator. Olivier was one of the first members of the Fabian Society, contributing to the famous Fabian Essays (1889). He...

(Encyclopedia) Shirley, James, 1596–1666, English dramatist. Ordained in the Church of England, he later was converted to Roman Catholicism and became a schoolmaster. He resigned that position, however, soon after...

(Encyclopedia) Reymont, Władysław Stanisław vlädĭsˈläf stänēsˈläf rāˈmônt [key], 1867?–1925, Polish short-story writer and novelist. Reymont's poverty-stricken farm childhood and his early manhood as...

(Encyclopedia) De Morgan, Augustus də môrˈgən [key], 1806–71, English mathematician and logician, b. India. A noted teacher, he was professor of mathematics (1828–31, 1836–66) at University College (now pa...

(Encyclopedia) Dyer, Mary, d. 1660, Quaker martyr in Massachusetts, b. England. She accompanied (c.1635) her husband to Massachusetts and supported Anne Hutchinson, whom she followed to Rhode Island, where her husba...

(Encyclopedia) Bora-Bora bōˈrä-bōˈrä [key], volcanic island, 15 sq mi (39 sq km), South Pacific, in the Leeward group of the Society Islands, French Polynesia. It is a mountainous island, with Mt. Otemanu (2,3...

(Encyclopedia) Borrow, George Henry, 1803–81, English writer and traveler. He led a nomadic life in England and on the Continent, where he was a translator and agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society. His ...

(Encyclopedia) Boyd, Louise Arner, 1887–1972, American arctic explorer, b. San Rafael, Calif. She led a series of scientific explorations on the east coast of Greenland. The expedition of 1933, sponsored by the Am...