Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890–1980, American author, b. Indian Creek, Tex., as Callie Russell Porter. Although she published infrequently, she is regarded as a master of the short story. Her first bo...

(Encyclopedia)  Rice, Anne, 1941-2021, American novelist, b. New Orleans, La., as Howard Katherine O'Brien, San Francisco State Univ. (B.A., 1964; M.A., 1972). Rice wa...

(Encyclopedia) Brant, Brandt, or Brand, Sebastian sābäsˈtyän bränt [key], 1457–1521, German humanist and moralist. He taught law at the Univ. of Basel and in 1503 became town clerk of Strasbourg. His verse al...

(Encyclopedia) Dunham, Katherine dŭnˈəm [key], 1909?–2006, American dancer, choreographer, and anthropologist, b. Chicago. She studied anthropology at the Univ. of Chicago, where she received a B.A. and Ph.D. a...

(Encyclopedia) short story, brief prose fiction. The term covers a wide variety of narratives—from stories in which the main focus is on the course of events to studies of character, from the “short short” sto...

(Encyclopedia) Porter, Cole, 1891–1964, American composer and lyricist, b. Peru, Ind., grad. Yale, 1913. Porter's witty, sophisticated lyrics and his affecting melodies place him high in the ranks of American comp...

(Encyclopedia) porter: see beer.

(Encyclopedia) Porter, David, 1780–1843, American naval officer, b. Boston. Appointed a midshipman in 1798, he served in the West Indies and in the war with Tripoli. In 1803 his ship, the Philadelphia, was capture...

(Encyclopedia) Philips, Katherine (Fowler), 1631–64, English poet. Conductor of several literary salons in London, she began the Society of Friendship under the pseudonym “Matchless Orinda.” The first collecte...

(Encyclopedia) Porter, Horace, 1837–1921, American soldier and diplomat, b. Huntingdon, Pa. In the Civil War he saw varied service, mostly as an ordnance officer, before becoming (1864) aide-de-camp to Gen. U. S. ...