Abraham Bar Hiyya
(d. c.1136).Jewish Spanish philosopher and translator. He produced several works of philosophy, the best known of which are Hegyon ha-Nefesh ha-Azuvah (Meditation of the Sad Soul), the encyclopaedic ...
Abraham ibn da'ud
(early 12th c. – c.1180)Jewish philosopher, born at Cordova, Abraham Ibn Da'ud lived mainly at Toledo, where he may have suffered martyrdom. His main work, Emuna rama (Sublime faith) ...
abridgement
A shorter version of an otherwise lengthy written work; also the process of selective cutting that results in such an abridged edition. Many classic literary works have appeared in abridged versions ...
adaptation
The process of making a work of art upon the basis of elements provided by an earlier work in a different, usually literary, medium; also the secondary work thus produced. Literary works have been ...
Adriano Politi
(1542–1625).Sienese nobleman known for his Dittionario toscano, published in 1613–14, and for his place in the questione della lingua. Like Beni and Tassoni, he was inspired to contribute to ...
al- Kindī
(c.801–c.866)An Arab philosopher and scholar who lived at Baghdad as a familiar of the caliphs, at a time of great theological controversies and intense activity of translating Greek works ...
Albert the Great
(1200–80),Dominican friar and bishop. A Swabian by birth, Albert joined the Dominicans at Padua in 1223 against the wishes of his noble family. After teaching at Hildesheim, Ratisbon, and Cologne, ...
alchemy
The medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir.The term comes (in late ...
Alessandro Piccolomini
(1508–78),Italian humanist, poet, and dramatist. He was born in Siena and became a teacher of philosophy in Padua (from 1539) and Rome (1546–58). In 1574 he was appointed archbishop ...
Alessandro Poerio
(1802–48).Neapolitan poet and patriot, who spent much of his life in exile (partly in Florence) and died of wounds during the revolution of 1848 in Venice. He translated works ...
Alfaguara
Spanish publisher. Founded in 1964 by the author (and future Nobel laureate) Camilo José Cela, Alfaguara is one of Spain’s leading literary publishers. Its specialities are modern fiction by Hispanic ...
Alfonso Buenhombre
(late 13th c. - 1353)Alfonso Buenhombre (Alfonsus Bonihominis), a Dominican missionary and polemist, born perhaps at Toledo, led an adventurous life that took him notably to Egypt (1336), Morocco ...
Alfonso X
(1221–84)King of Castile and León (1252–84). His reign was a contrast between the failure of his political ambitions and his scholarly success as a law‐giver. He spent fruitless years trying to ...
Alfredo Panzini
(1863–1939), Italian writer and literary critic.Panzini's conservative idea of society, as it transpires from La Lanterna di Diogene (The Lantern of Diogenes, 1907) and Il padrone sono me (I ...
Alonso de Cartagena
(1385/6–1456) Son of Pablo de Santa María, chief rabbi then bishop of Burgos following his conversion in 1390.Following an illustrious diplomatic career, Alonso inherited the bishopric on Pablo’s ...
Amatus
Bishop, possibly of Paestum-Capaccio or Nusco (E.Cuozzo, Benedictina 26 [1979] 323–48), and monk of Montecassino; born Salerno ca.1010, died ca.1083? Amatus wrote several Latin poetical works and a ...
Ambrogio Traversari
(1386–1439)Among the great Italian Humanists of the Quattrocento, a particular place belongs to Ambrogio Traversari. He is interesting not just as a lover of classical studies, but as a ...
American Bible Society
Formed in New York City in 1816 to produce and distribute the Bible in the US and around the world. Committed to publishing the Bible ‘without note or comment’, by ...
American Influences
It was only in the second half of the 19th c. that the study and appreciation of American literature acquired some momentum in Italy, although the limited knowledge of English ...
Ana de Castro Osorio
(1872–1935), Portuguese writer. Born at Mangualde, in the middle of Portugal, she died in Setúbal, a historical city near Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Osorio was one of the most ...
