auteur theory, theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a motion picture. Arising in France in the late 1940s, the auteur theory—as it was dubbed by the American film critic Andrew Sarris—was an outgrowth of the cinematic theories of André Bazin and

Italy: Lombards and Byzantines: …reestablishment of Lombard kingship under Authari (584–590) and then Agilulf (590–616), nearly as many Lombard leaders seem to have been fighting with the Byzantines as against them. In 584, in the face of Frankish invasions from beyond the Alps, the Lombard dukes met and elected Authari king, ceding him considerable…

Sports Illustrated: Ownership: …intellectual property was sold to Authentic Brands Group for $110 million. As part of the deal, Meredith would continue to publish Sports Illustrated through a licensing agreement.

cadence: In an authentic cadence, a chord that incorporates the dominant triad (based on the fifth tone of the scale) is followed by the tonic triad (based on the first tone of the scale), V–I; the tonic harmony comes at the end of the phrase. In the strongest…

phenomenology: Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology: …comes to its self (called authenticity) or loses itself (called inauthenticity); Dasein is inauthentic, for example, when it lets the possibilities of the choice for its own “ek-sisting” be given to it by others instead of deciding for itself. Heidegger’s concept of care (Sorge, cura) has nothing to do with…

mode: The eight modes: An authentic mode consists of a pentachord (a succession of five diatonic notes) followed by a conjunct tetrachord, for example:

Italy: Institutional reforms: …studying law, the so-called “Authentica Habita” (c. 1155), and played a leading role in the gradual evolution of the law schools at Bologna. Roman law, however, was merely one source that contributed to the development of more clearly defined social and political institutions in the 12th century. The profound…

cryptology: The fundamentals of codes, ciphers, and authentication: The most frequently confused, and misused, terms in the lexicon of cryptology are code and cipher. Even experts occasionally employ these terms as though they were synonymous.

lithification: …pores; these reactions, collectively termed authigenesis, may form new minerals or add to others already present in the sediment. Minerals may be dissolved and redistributed into nodules and other concretions, and minerals in solution entering the sediment from another area may be deposited or may react with minerals already present.…

sedimentary rock: Mineralogical and geochemical composition: …two principal types—namely, detrital and authigenic. Detrital minerals, such as grains of quartz and feldspar, survive weathering and are transported to the depositional site as clasts. Authigenic minerals, like calcite, halite, and gypsum, form in situ within the depositional site in response to geochemical processes. The chemical compounds that constitute…

authigenic sediment, deep-sea sediment that has been formed in place on the seafloor. The most significant authigenic sediments in modern ocean basins are metal-rich sediments and manganese nodules. Metal-rich sediments include those enriched by iron, manganese, copper, chromium, and lead. These

author, one who is the source of some form of intellectual or creative work; especially, one who composes a book, article, poem, play, or other literary work intended for publication. Usually a distinction is made between an author and others (such as a compiler, an editor, or a translator) who

book collecting: Styles of collecting: …fall within three genres: the author collection, the subject collection, and the cabinet collection.

substitution: …in the following lines from “The Author to Her Book”:

Arthur Hiller: Later films: …of forgettable comedies followed, including Author! Author! (1982), which starred Al Pacino as an overwhelmed playwright, and The Lonely Guy (1984), with Steve Martin and a scene-stealing Charles Grodin. Hiller had a modest hit with Outrageous Fortune (1987), which cast Bette Midler and Shelley Long as rivals, but See No

David Lodge: Author, Author (2004) and A Man of Parts (2011) are based on the lives of writers Henry James and H.G. Wells, respectively.

authoritarianism: The appeal of authoritarian rule: …German philosopher Theodor Adorno published The Authoritarian Personality, which argues that some people exhibit personality traits that make them amenable to authoritarian rule. These characteristics include a general willingness to submit to authority, a rigid cognitive style, conventional moral values, and an aggressive attitude toward out-groups and those whose behaviour…

authoritarianism, in politics and government, the blind submission to authority and the repression of individual freedom of thought and action. Authoritarian regimes are systems of government that have no established mechanism for the transfer of executive power and do not afford their citizens

authority, the exercise of legitimate influence by one social actor over another. There are many ways in which an individual or entity can influence another to behave differently, and not all of them have equal claim to authority. A classic hypothetical example serves to differentiate the term

gender wage gap: Vertical or hierarchical segregation: …the gender wage gap is vertical segregation. Vertical segregation, also known as hierarchical segregation, or the “authority gap,” refers to the fact that men are much more likely than women to be in positions of authority. A number of researchers have found a significant pro-male bias in promotion decisions that…

Harold Joseph Laski: During this period he wrote Authority in the Modern State (1919) and The Foundations of Sovereignty, and Other Essays (1921). In both works he attacked the notion of an all-powerful sovereign state, arguing instead for political pluralism. In his Grammar of Politics (1925), however, he defended the opposite position, viewing…

Ramiro de Maeztu: He wrote, in English, Authority, Liberty, and Function in Light of the War, in which he called for a reliance on authority, tradition, and the institutions of the Roman Catholic church. It was published in Spanish as La crisis del humanismo (1919).

Imagine sending your child off to college with a credit card to use for gas, groceries, and emergencies. But there’s a catch—you’re still legally responsible for every charge they make. That’s essentially how authorized user accounts work. An authorized user is someone a credit card owner adds to

King James Version (KJV), English translation of the Bible, published in 1611 under the auspices of King James I of England. The translation had a marked influence on English literary style and was generally accepted as the standard English Bible from the mid-17th to the early 20th century. It is

Scott Turow: Law career and suit against Meta: …served as president of the Authors Guild in 2010–14.

autism, neurodevelopmental difference that affects how a person experiences and interacts with the world. Indications of autism, often observed in physical, social, and language skills, typically are apparent before age three. The term autism (from the Greek autos, meaning “self”) was coined in

autism spectrum disorder (ASD), any of a group of neurobiological disorders that are characterized by deficits in social interaction and communication and by atypical behaviors, interests, and activities. In 1911 Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler coined the term autism (from the Greek autos, meaning

autism, neurodevelopmental difference that affects how a person experiences and interacts with the world. Indications of autism, often observed in physical, social, and language skills, typically are apparent before age three. The term autism (from the Greek autos, meaning “self”) was coined in

Autlán, city, southwestern Jalisco estado (state), west-central Mexico. Autlán is situated in the western foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental at 3,291 feet (1,003 metres) above sea level. It is a regional centre of commerce, agriculture (oranges, lemons, guavas, and other fruits), livestock

Autlán, city, southwestern Jalisco estado (state), west-central Mexico. Autlán is situated in the western foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental at 3,291 feet (1,003 metres) above sea level. It is a regional centre of commerce, agriculture (oranges, lemons, guavas, and other fruits), livestock

An automobile is a usually four-wheeled vehicle designed primarily for passenger transportation and commonly propelled by an internal-combustion engine using a volatile fuel. (Read Henry Ford’s 1926 Britannica essay on mass production.) The modern automobile is a complex technical system employing

Salic Law of Succession: …the Salic Law by his Auto Acordado of 1713, which was later repealed. The Salic Law of Succession was applied when Victoria, who was from the house of Hanover, became queen of England in 1837 but was barred from succession to the Hanover crown, which went to her uncle.

Fay Weldon: …nonfiction works was the memoir Auto da Fay (2002).

auto-da-fé, a public ceremony during which the sentences upon those brought before the Spanish Inquisition were read and after which the sentences were executed by the secular authorities. The first auto-da-fé took place at Sevilla in 1481; the last, in Mexico in 1850. The ceremonies, which became

Lucas Fernández: His best work is the Auto de la Pasión, an Easter play. His Diálogo para cantar (1514; “Dialogue for Singing”) is the first example of a rudimentary zarzuela, the distinctively Spanish musical play.

Spanish literature: Early drama: The Auto de los reyes magos (“Play of the Three Wise Kings”), dated from the second half of the 12th century, is an incomplete play of the Epiphany cycle. It is medieval Spanish drama’s only extant text. The play’s realistic characterization of the Magi and of…

auto sacramental, (Spanish: “sacramental act”), Spanish dramatic genre that reached its height in the 17th century with autos written by the playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Performed outdoors as part of the Corpus Christi feast day celebrations, autos were short allegorical plays in verse

auto-da-fé, a public ceremony during which the sentences upon those brought before the Spanish Inquisition were read and after which the sentences were executed by the secular authorities. The first auto-da-fé took place at Sevilla in 1481; the last, in Mexico in 1850. The ceremonies, which became

Auto-da-Fé, novel by Elias Canetti, published in 1935 in German as Die Blendung (“The Deception”). It was also published in English as The Tower of Babel. Originally planned as the first in a series of eight novels examining mad visionaries, the book deals with the dangers inherent in believing

Leo Pinsker: By a Russian Jew”; Auto-Emancipation, 1884), which provoked strong reactions, both critical and commendatory, from Jewish leaders. In the pamphlet he contended that the only restorative for Jewish dignity and spiritual health lay in a Jewish homeland.

Leo Pinsker: By a Russian Jew”; Auto-Emancipation, 1884), which provoked strong reactions, both critical and commendatory, from Jewish leaders. In the pamphlet he contended that the only restorative for Jewish dignity and spiritual health lay in a Jewish homeland.

What Is Jeremy Bentham’s “Auto-Icon”?: …one’s own icon (thus “auto-icon”) in the manner he envisaged for himself: dissection followed by the display of a near-replica of the original person, constructed out of a skeleton, stuffing such as hay, and a mummified head. The dissection, he argued, would advance scientific knowledge and greatly facilitate medical…

Auto-Tune, software plug-in used by music producers and sound engineers to analyze, adjust, and correct the pitch of voices and instruments. Considered one of the pop music industry’s most significant technological advances, Auto-Tune was introduced by Antares Audio Technologies in 1997. The

chemistry of industrial polymers: Industrial polymerization methods: This phenomenon, called autoacceleration, can cause polymerization reactions to accelerate at explosive rates unless efficient means for heat dissipation are included in the design of the reactor.

autoimmune disease, any of a group of conditions or disorders that result from malfunction of the immune system, in which immune components react against the body’s own normal cells. More than 80 autoimmune diseases are known, the majority of which cannot be cured. Between 4 and 5 percent of people

Blondie: By the time of Autoamerican (1980), the other members’ creative contributions had waned, even as the group’s style grew more adventurous, encompassing the reggae hit “The Tide Is High” and introducing the nascent genre of hip-hop to rock audiences with the single “Rapture.” The Hunter (1982) represented a downturn…

autotomy, the ability of certain animals to release part of the body that has been grasped by an external agent. A notable example is found among lizards that break off the tail when it is seized by a predator. The phenomenon is found also among certain worms, salamanders, and spiders. The cast-off

blood: Laboratory examination of blood: …for each analysis; however, the autoanalyzer, a completely automated machine, increases the number of chemical analyses that can be performed in laboratories. A dozen analyses may be made simultaneously by a single machine employing a small amount of serum. The serum is automatically drawn from a test tube and is…

autoantibody, harmful antibody that attacks components of the body called self antigens. Normally autoantibodies are routinely eliminated by the immune system’s self-regulatory process—probably through the neutralization of autoantibody-producing lymphocytes before they mature. At times this

immune system disorder: Alteration of self antigens: Various mechanisms can alter self components so that they seem foreign to the immune system. New antigenic determinants can be attached to self proteins, or the shape of a self antigen can shift—for a variety of reasons—so that previously unresponsive helper T cells…

Kraftwerk: …22-minute title track of the Autobahn album (1974). Repetitious, monotonous, lulling, and entrancing, “Autobahn” became an unlikely hit in Europe and the United States (where it was played on commercial radio stations in severely edited form). Subsequent albums explored such subjects as radios and trains with a combination of childlike…

Autobahn, high-speed, limited-access highway, the basis of the first modern national expressway system. Planned in Germany in the early 1930s, the Autobahnen were extended to a national highway network (Reichsautobahnen) of 2,108 km (1,310 miles) by 1942. West Germany embarked on an ambitious

Autobahn, high-speed, limited-access highway, the basis of the first modern national expressway system. Planned in Germany in the early 1930s, the Autobahnen were extended to a national highway network (Reichsautobahnen) of 2,108 km (1,310 miles) by 1942. West Germany embarked on an ambitious

Michel Leiris: …considérée comme une tauromachie” (1946; The Autobiographer as Torero), comparing the courage required to write with that required of a matador. In 1948 he began another autobiography, La Règle du jeu (“The Rules of the Game”), which was published in four volumes as Biffures (1948; “Erasures”), Fourbis (1955; “Odds and…

memory: Autobiographical memory: As an aspect of episodic memory, autobiographical memories are unique to each individual. The study of autobiographical memory poses problems, because it is difficult to prove whether the events took place as reported. Using diary methods, researchers have found that people recall actions…

Peter Cartwright: …his colourful life in his Autobiography (1856), which became a leading source for material on the life of the western circuit rider.

autobiography, the biography of oneself narrated by oneself. Autobiographical works can take many forms, from the intimate writings made during life that were not necessarily intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and reminiscences) to a formal book-length

Benvenuto Cellini: …and his period in his autobiography, one of the most picturesque figures of the Renaissance.

John Bigelow: …editor of Benjamin Franklin’s long-lost Autobiography. As U.S. consul in Paris during the American Civil War, he also prevented the delivery of warships constructed in France for the Confederacy.

Benjamin Robert Haydon: …historical painter and writer, whose Autobiography has proved more enduring than his painting.

Joseph Jefferson: Jefferson’s Autobiography (1890) is written with spirit and humour, and its judgments with regard to the art of the actor and the playwright place it beside Colley Cibber’s Apology.

St. Ignatius of Loyola: Early life: …his own admission in his Autobiography, “a man given to the vanities of the world, whose chief delight consisted in martial exercises, with a great and vain desire to win renown.” Although his morals were far from stainless, Ignatius was in his early years a proud rather than sensual man.…

John Stuart Mill: Public life and writing of John Stuart Mill: The Autobiography tells how in 1826 Mill’s enthusiasm was checked by a misgiving as to the value of the ends that he had set before him. At the London Debating Society, where he first measured his strength in public conflict, he found himself looked upon with…

Herbert Spencer: Life and works: …would marry, but in his Autobiography (1904) Spencer denies any such desire, much as he admired Eliot’s intellectual powers. Other friends were the writer George Henry Lewes, the biologist Thomas Henry Huxley, and the philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill. In 1853 Spencer, having received a legacy from his uncle,…

English literature: The novel: …of 47 novels, and his Autobiography (1883) is a uniquely candid account of the working life of a Victorian writer.

Miguel Barnet: …Biografía de un cimarrón (1966; Biography of a Runaway Slave, also published as The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave), a trend-setting book that inaugurated and then became the standard for what was to be known as testimonio, or testimonial narrative, in Latin America. In these works, a subject who has…

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, book by Gertrude Stein, written in the voice of her lifelong companion, Alice B. Toklas. Published in 1933, the work ostensibly contains Toklas’s first-person account not of her own life but of Stein’s, written from Toklas’s viewpoint and replete with Toklas’s

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, novel by James Weldon Johnson, published in 1912. This fictional autobiography, originally issued anonymously in order to suggest authenticity, explores the intricacies of racial identity through the eventful life of its mixed-race (and unnamed) narrator. The

Louis Sullivan: Work in association with Adler: …event that Sullivan ended the Autobiography of an Idea (1924), his account of his career and his architectural theories.

Fukuzawa Yukichi: Writing in his The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi (Eng. trans. 1934; numerous subsequent editions and reprintings) shortly before his death in 1901, Fukuzawa declared that the abolition of all feudal privileges by the Meiji government and Japan’s victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95 (which gave…

Amiri Baraka: …Magic: Collected Poetry 1961–1967 (1969), The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka (1984), and the piercing Tales of the Out & Gone (2006), a fictional social commentary. Baraka taught at Columbia, Yale University, and, from 1979, at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where at the time of…

The Autobiography of Malcolm X, biography, published in 1965, of the American Black militant religious leader and activist who was born Malcolm Little. Written by Alex Haley, who had conducted extensive audiotaped interviews with Malcolm X just before his assassination in 1965, the book gained

Cicely Tyson: …character in the television drama The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, adapted from the eponymous novel by Ernest J. Gaines. Her performance as a 110-year-old woman whose life is depicted from slavery up through the civil rights movement of the 1960s won Tyson two Emmy Awards.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, novel by Ernest J. Gaines, published in 1971. The novel is set in rural southern Louisiana and spans 100 years of American history—from the early 1860s to the onset of the civil rights movement in the 1960s—in following the life of the elderly Jane Pittman,

Jamaica Kincaid: Literary works: …reached a fierce pitch in The Autobiography of My Mother (1996) and My Brother (1997), an account of the death from AIDS of Kincaid’s younger brother Devon Drew.

Canadian literature: Poetry and poetics: In Autobiography of Red (1998)—the story of the winged red monster Geryon and his doomed love for Herakles—she draws on the Greek poet Stesichoros, while in The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos (2001) she invokes English poet John Keats. A classics…

Frank Lloyd Wright: The 1920s and ’30s: …debacles, Wright began to write An Autobiography, as well as a series of articles on architecture, which appeared in 1927 and 1928. Finally, some of Wright’s admirers set up Wright, Incorporated—a firm that owned his talents, his properties, and his debts—that effectively shielded him. In 1929 Wright designed a tower…

Amanda Smith: In 1893 Smith published An Autobiography. The proceeds from the book, together with her savings, the income from a small newspaper she published, and gifts from others, enabled her to open a home for African-American orphans in Harvey, Ill., in 1899. Eventually she resumed preaching and singing in order…

mollusk: Annotated classification: (Nuculida), Palaeobranchia (Solemyida), Autobranchia (lamellibranch and septibranch bivalves); about 6,000 marine and 2,000 limnic species. Class Scaphopoda (Solenoconcha; tusk shells) Midventrally fused mantle and tubiform to barrel-shaped shell; head with tubular snout and 2 bunches of slender tentacles (captacula); foot pointed and cylindrical; no ctenidia and distinct blood…

food preservation: Autoxidation: …of unsaturated fatty acids is autocatalytic; that is, it proceeds by a free-radical chain reaction. Free radicals contain an unpaired electron (represented by a dot in the molecular formula) and, therefore, are highly reactive chemical molecules. The basic mechanisms in a free-radical chain reaction involve initiation, propagation, and termination steps…

autocephalous church, in the modern usage of Eastern Orthodox canon law, church that enjoys total canonical and administrative independence and elects its own primates and bishops. The term autocephalous was used in medieval Byzantine law in its literal sense of “self-headed” (Greek: autokephalos),

Orthodox Church of Poland, ecclesiastically independent member of the Eastern Orthodox communion, established in 1924 to accommodate the four million Orthodox Christians residing in the vast Ukrainian and Byelorussian territories acquired by Poland after World War I. As the new political situation

12 Key Dates in the History of Photography: 1907: Autochrome introduced: Their method, called autochrome, used a glass plate instead of plastic film. The plate was coated with light-sensitive chemicals and granules of dyed potato starch, which acted as a color filter. The process resulted in a positive color transparency that vividly captured the world’s radiant colors. The image,…

Cecrops: As one of the autochthons of Attica—i.e., literally sprung from its soil—Cecrops was represented as human in the upper part of his body, while the lower part was shaped like a snake.

autoclave, vessel, usually of steel, able to withstand high temperatures and pressures. The chemical industry uses various types of autoclaves in manufacturing dyes and in other chemical reactions requiring high pressures. In bacteriology and medicine, instruments are sterilized by being placed in

computer: Compilers: …first of several programs called Autocode for the Manchester Mark I. Autocode was the first compiler actually to be implemented. (The language that it compiled was called by the same name.) Glennie’s compiler had little influence, however. When J. Halcombe Laning created a compiler for the Whirlwind computer at the…

Abraham Cruzvillegas: … who developed the concept of autoconstrucción (self-construction). His art practice melded incongruent elements through improvisation and unmonitored change in order to probe the ongoing transformation of community—and of his own identity—in the belief that “we go through a long, long path to become ourselves.”

absolutism, the political doctrine and practice of unlimited centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in a monarch or dictator. The essence of an absolutist system is that the ruling power is not subject to regularized challenge or check by any other agency, be it

cell: Types of chemical signaling: In the autocrine signaling process, molecules act on the same cells that produce them. In paracrine signaling, they act on nearby cells. Autocrine signals include extracellular matrix molecules and various factors that stimulate cell growth. An example of paracrine signals is the chemical transmitted from nerve to…

Monza: …the site of the famous Autodromo (automobile-racing track), which, because of its elliptical shape and concrete banked curves, is claimed to be the fastest in the world. Pop. (2006 est.) mun., 121,961.

Patrick Modiano: …of what the French call autofiction, the blend of autobiography and historical fiction. His writing style was described by one critic as “so spare and elliptical that the words seem only lightly attached to the page.” Throughout his body of work, the reader can readily sense the author’s perception of…

Kanehara Hitomi: …followed it with Ōtofikushon (2006; Autofiction), which opens with another nihilistic 20-something female and then scrolls back in time to reveal the past that shaped her skewed perceptions. It was a candidate for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007. That year also saw the release of Kanehara’s Haidora (Hydra).

technology of photography: Autofocus systems: Some cameras evaluate the coincidence (or lack thereof) between two rangefinder images by image analysis with a microchip system. This signals electronically when the lens is set to the correct distance and often carries out the distance setting by a servomotor built into…

self-fertilization: Autogamy, the production of gametes by the division of a single parent cell, is frequently found in unicellular organisms such as the protozoan Paramecium. These organisms, however, may also reproduce by means of conjugation, in which cross-fertilization is achieved by the exchange of genetic material…

Diptera: Adults: …of eggs without blood are autogenous; those that cannot lay at all without blood are anautogenous. One species can have both types, possibly as a result of shifting populations or races arising from natural selection. For example, in the far north, large populations of biting flies (e.g., mosquitoes, biting midges,…

mineral processing: Grinding: Autogenous mills operate without grinding bodies; instead, the coarser part of the ore simply grinds itself and the smaller fractions. To semiautogenous mills (which have become widespread), 5 to 10 percent grinding bodies (usually metal spheres) are added.

autogiro, rotary-wing aircraft, superseded after World War II by the more efficient helicopter. It employed a propeller for forward motion and a freely rotating, unmotorized rotor for lift. In searching for an aircraft that could be slowed down in flight and landed vertically, experimenters built

transplant: Transplants and grafts: Autografts cannot be rejected. Similarly, grafts between identical twins or highly inbred animals—isografts—are accepted by the recipients indefinitely. Grafts from a donor to a recipient of the same species—allografts or homografts—are usually rejected unless special efforts are made to prevent this. Grafts between individuals of…

autograph, any manuscript handwritten by its author, either in alphabetical or musical notation. (The term also refers to a person’s handwritten signature.) Aside from its antiquarian or associative value, an autograph may be an early or corrected draft of a manuscript and provide valuable evidence

Zadie Smith: The Autograph Man, On Beauty, and other novels: Smith’s second novel, The Autograph Man, was published in 2002. It centers on Alex-Li Tandem, a Chinese Jewish autograph trader who sets out to meet a reclusive 1950s starlet and in the process undertakes his own journey of self-discovery. The Autograph Man, which also addresses the public’s obsession…