Thomas Sackville, 1st earl of Dorset: …poetry and drama: the collection A Myrrour for Magistrates (1563) and the tragedy Gorboduc (1561).

William Caxton: …and philosophy and an encyclopaedia, The Myrrour of the Worlde (1481), the first illustrated English book—shows that he catered also to a general public. The large number of service books and devotional works published by Caxton were the staple reading of most literate persons. He also printed nearly all the…

Alcaeus: A new tyrant, Myrsilus, came to power in Lesbos, and Alcaeus became his fierce opponent. After the failure of a conspiracy, Alcaeus went into exile in Pyrrha, a small town near Mytilene. During his exile Alcaeus wrote bitter polemics against Pittacus, who had joined another faction. The poet…

Ericales: Myrsinoideae: Formerly the family Myrsinaceae, the Myrsine tribe of Primulaceae is pantropical and temperate, especially north temperate, with species ranging from trees to herbs. There are about 41 genera and 1,435 species in the family. Ardisia (about 450 species) is found in much of the…

Myrtaceae, the myrtle family of shrubs and trees, in the order Myrtales, containing about 150 genera and 3,300 species that are widely distributed in the tropics. They have rather leathery evergreen leaves with oil glands. Some members of economic importance are the Eucalyptus, guava, rose apple,

Myrtales, the myrtle order of flowering plants, composed of 9 families, 380 genera, and about 13,000 species distributed throughout the tropics and warmer regions of the world. The majority of these species belong to just two families, Melastomataceae and Myrtaceae. Myrtales includes many trees

Pelops: …versions, Pelops bribed Oenomaus’ charioteer, Myrtilus, to remove the linchpins from Oenomaus’ chariot. After his victory, for reasons that are given differently in different sources, he threw Myrtilus into the sea that afterward was called the Myrtoan. Myrtilus—or Oenomaus—was said to have uttered the curse that dogged the Pelopid house…

myrtle, any of the evergreen shrubs in the genus Myrtus, belonging to the family Myrtaceae. Authorities differ widely over the number of species the genus includes. Most occur in South America; some are found in Australia and New Zealand. True myrtles have a central midrib and a major vein just

Myrtle Beach, city, Horry county, eastern South Carolina, U.S. It lies along the Atlantic coast between the ocean and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. From the early 1900s Myrtle Beach was developed as a seaside resort, and since the 1960s it has become renowned for golf, tennis, and amusement

southern beech: …Australian, or red, myrtle (N. cunninghamii), a 60-metre (197-foot) Tasmanian tree important for its fine-textured wood; the slender columnar red beech (N. fusca) of New Zealand, about 30 metres tall; and the silver, or southland, beech (N. menziesii), a 30-metre New Zealand tree with doubly and bluntly toothed leaves…

Myrtaceae, the myrtle family of shrubs and trees, in the order Myrtales, containing about 150 genera and 3,300 species that are widely distributed in the tropics. They have rather leathery evergreen leaves with oil glands. Some members of economic importance are the Eucalyptus, guava, rose apple,

Myrtales, the myrtle order of flowering plants, composed of 9 families, 380 genera, and about 13,000 species distributed throughout the tropics and warmer regions of the world. The majority of these species belong to just two families, Melastomataceae and Myrtaceae. Myrtales includes many trees

wood warbler: …white, and yellow of the myrtle warbler (D. coronata). A common but less-striking species is the blackpoll warbler (D. striata). Some authors merge Dendroica in Vermivora, a less-colourful genus of 11 species, most of them well known in the United States.

court: …Court of the Lions and Court of the Myrtles, the most celebrated of all Muslim patios. In Tudor and Elizabethan England of the 16th century, the principal mansions frequently had a forecourt, with wings of the house projecting forward on either side. The larger houses in France were similarly planned;…

California laurel, (Umbellularia californica), aromatic evergreen tree of the laurel family (Lauraceae). It occurs on the Pacific coast of North America from Oregon to California and grows about 15 to 25 metres (50 to 80 feet) tall. A handsome tree, it is often grown in gardens and along avenues.

myrtle, any of the evergreen shrubs in the genus Myrtus, belonging to the family Myrtaceae. Authorities differ widely over the number of species the genus includes. Most occur in South America; some are found in Australia and New Zealand. True myrtles have a central midrib and a major vein just

myrtle: The aromatic common myrtle (M. communis) is native to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East and is cultivated in southern England and the warmer regions of North America. In Greco-Roman antiquity, the common myrtle was held to be sacred to Venus and was used as an…

Cape Chelyuskin, cape in north-central Siberia, the northernmost point of the Taymyr Peninsula in Russia and of the entire Eurasian landmass. The area around the cape is composed of ancient Precambrian materials, and a series of marine terraces demonstrates that the region is rising relative to the

Cape Dezhnyov, cape, extreme eastern Russia. Cape Dezhnyov is the easternmost point of the Chukchi Peninsula and of the entire Eurasian landmass. It is separated from Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska by the Bering Strait. The Russian name was given in 1879 in honour of a Russian explorer S.I.

hutia: …in the long-tailed Cuban hutia Mysateles prehensilis. Depending on the species, the tail may be thinly or thickly furred and have a thick coat of fur that may be soft or coarse; colours range from gray to brown to black above, with lighter underparts.

Henri Rousseau: Civil service career and early paintings: …Rousseau’s career is his self-portrait, Myself: Portrait-Landscape (1890). Standing in the foreground, palette in hand, Rousseau is surrounded by the Parisian landscape, which is painted with great accuracy. This was obviously intended as a “portrait of the artist” in the academic tradition; the seriousness of purpose is impressive in spite…

Mysia, ancient district in northwest Anatolia adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea on the west. A vague inland perimeter was bounded by the districts of Lydia on the south and Phrygia and Bithynia on the east. Mysia designated a geographic rather than a political territory

Mysia: Homer mentioned the Mysians (for whom the region was named) as primitive allies of the Trojans, but historically there is no record of their action as an independent nation. Mysia was ruled successively by Lydia, Persia, and Pergamum, after which it was incorporated into the Roman province of…

opossum shrimp, any member of the crustacean order Mysidacea. Most of the nearly 1,000 known species live in the sea; a few live in brackish water; and fewer still live in fresh water. Most are 1 to 3 cm (about 0.4 to 1.2 inches) long. The name opossum shrimp derives from the females’ brood pouch,

opossum shrimp, any member of the crustacean order Mysidacea. Most of the nearly 1,000 known species live in the sea; a few live in brackish water; and fewer still live in fresh water. Most are 1 to 3 cm (about 0.4 to 1.2 inches) long. The name opossum shrimp derives from the females’ brood pouch,

opossum shrimp: The freshwater species Mysis relicta, which is common in cold lakes of North America, Great Britain, and northern Europe, is an important food for lake trout in the Great Lakes. Some species, such as Heteromysis cotti of the Canary Islands, live in caves and are either blind or…

Justine Henin: …semifinal against French Open victor Anastasiya Myskina of Russia and then took the gold medal over Amélie Mauresmo of France. At the U.S. Open two weeks later, however, Henin was ousted in the fourth round—the first time since 1980 that a number-one seed had been beaten before the semifinals in…

Mysuru, city, south-central Karnataka state, southern India. It lies northwest of Chamundi Hill and midway between the Kaveri (Cauvery) and Kabani (Kabbani) rivers on the undulating Deccan plateau at an elevation of 2,525 feet (770 metres). The land surrounding the city is characterized by

Karnataka, state of India, located on the western coast of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the states of Goa and Maharashtra to the north, Telangana to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, and Kerala to the south and by the Arabian Sea to the west. The state extends for about 420 miles (675

Mysore Palace, a sprawling three-story, gray granite, Indo-Saracenic building capped by a five-story tower that culminates in a gilded dome in the southern Indian city of Mysuru in Karnataka state. The city is home to a number of palaces, but when people talk of Mysore Palace, they are referring to

Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley: …Revolutionary France, in the fourth Mysore War (1799), and Wellesley then restored the Hindu dynasty there that had been deposed by Tippu’s father, Hyder Ali. He annexed much territory after his brother Arthur and General Gerard (later 1st Viscount) Lake defeated the Maratha Confederacy of states in the Deccan (peninsular…

Mysore Wars, four military confrontations (1767–69; 1780–84; 1790–92; and 1799) in India between the British and the rulers of Mysore. About 1761 a Muslim adventurer, Hyder Ali, already commander in chief, made himself ruler of the state of Mysore and set about expanding his dominions. In 1766 the

Myspace, website and social media platform that was the most popular social network from 2005 to 2008. Myspace is a free, advertising-supported service that allows users to create Web “profile” pages that feature photographs, express their interests, and, most importantly, link to other people’s

MySQL, open-source relational database management software, owned by the computer software company Oracle, that allows users to interact with large amounts of data across multiple databases. MySQL is one of the most popular database management programs used worldwide. Though SQL is sometimes

Myst, graphical puzzle-adventure electronic game that debuted in 1993 and was designed by brothers Rand and Robyn Miller for American game manufacturers Cyan Worlds and Brøderbund Software. Advanced graphics and an engrossing story line helped Myst sell fans on what was essentially a very pretty

New Zealand short-tailed bat, (genus Mystacina), either of two species (M. robusta and M. tuberculata) of small bats that are the only species in the rare bat family Mystacinidae, which is found only in New Zealand. They are about 6–7 cm (2.4–2.8 inches) long and have a short 1.8-cm (0.7-inch)

bat: Annotated classification: Family Mystacinidae (New Zealand short-tailed bats) 2 small species in 1 genus (Mysticina) of New Zealand. Simple head similar to that of vesper bats. Wings fold very compactly; thumb and toe claws long and sharp; highly adapted for walking; tail perforates interfemoral membrane dorsally. Feed on…

mustache shrimp, any member of the crustacean subclass Mystacocarida, a small group of primitive, free-living marine animals. Of the few species known, the first was discovered near Woods Hole, Mass., U.S., in 1943. The shrimp’s rather tubular body includes a long abdomen; thick, bristly antennules

Llanocetus denticrenatus: Only those of Mystacodon selenensis, which date to approximately 36 million years ago, are older in the mysticete lineage. Judging by its 2-metre- (6.5-foot-) long skull, L. denticrenatus was a large animal; the skull itself bore a greater similarity to that of the basilosaurids, the extinct ancestors of…

Gabriel Marcel: Early life, philosophical style, and principal works: …work Mystère de l’être (1951; The Mystery of Being), based on his Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen (1949–50). Other notable works are: Journal métaphysique (1927; Metaphysical Journal); Être et avoir (1935; Being and Having); Du refus à l’invocation (1940; Creative Fidelity); Homo viator: prolégomènes à une métaphysique de…

Charles Péguy: Chief among them is Le Mystère de la charité de Jeanne d’Arc (1910), a mystical meditation that enlarges upon some of the scenes in the Jeanne d’Arc of 1897; Mystère des Saints Innocents (1912); and the culmination of the meditative and devotional outpouring of his final years, Ève (1913),…

Arnoul Gréban: …15th-century religious drama known as Mystère de la Passion (1453/54), dramatizing the events of Jesus’ life. In 1507 a performance of his Passion play, revised by Jean Michel to 65,000 lines, occupied six days. Gréban also collaborated with his brother Simon on a long mystery play about the Acts of…

Pablo Picasso: History of art: …and in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s film Le Mystère Picasso (1956), the artist, the sole star, behaves like a conjurer, performing tricks with his brush. And finally, just as he turned to the paintings of earlier masters, redoing their works in many variations, so he turned to his own earlier oeuvre, prompted…

Eugène Sue: …Les Mystères de Paris (1842–43; The Mysteries of Paris)—which influenced Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—and Le Juif errant (1844–45; The Wandering Jew). Published in installments, these long but exciting novels vastly increased the circulation of the newspapers in which they appeared. Both books display Sue’s powerful imagination, exuberant narrative style, and…

Cartesianism: Contemporary influences: …of thinkers, known as “mysterians,” who claim that, although we know that the conscious mind is nothing more than the brain, it is simply beyond the conceptual apparatus of human beings to understand how this can be the case. Other philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett and Paul Churchland, have…

rosary: In Christianity: …set of mysteries, the “luminous mysteries,” or mysteries of light. The five new mysteries celebrate events in Jesus’ ministry, including his baptism; his miracle at Cana, where he turned water into wine; his proclamation of the kingdom of God; the Transfiguration, in which he revealed his divinity to three…

Hortense Calisher: …On Keeping Women (1977), and Mysteries of Motion (1983). Age (1987) is the story of an elderly husband and wife in which each decides to keep a diary to be read by the living spouse after the other dies. The novel In the Palace of the Movie King (1993) follows…

Eugène Sue: …Les Mystères de Paris (1842–43; The Mysteries of Paris)—which influenced Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables—and Le Juif errant (1844–45; The Wandering Jew). Published in installments, these long but exciting novels vastly increased the circulation of the newspapers in which they appeared. Both books display Sue’s powerful imagination, exuberant narrative style, and…

Michael Chabon: …The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988; film 2008). Because of Chabon’s refusal to euphemize the protagonist’s homosexual experiences, he attracted a substantial gay following. A Model World and Other Stories (1991) was a compilation of some of his short fiction. His next novel, Wonder Boys (1995; film 2000), centres on a…

Michael Chabon: …advance and was published as The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988; film 2008). Because of Chabon’s refusal to euphemize the protagonist’s homosexual experiences, he attracted a substantial gay following. A Model World and Other Stories (1991) was a compilation of some of his short fiction. His next novel, Wonder Boys (1995;…

Muhammad Iqbal: Early life and career: …Persian poem, Rumūz-e bīkhūdī (1918; The Mysteries of Selflessness). Written as a counterpoint to the individualism preached in the Asrār-e khūdī, this poem called for self-surrender.

The Mysteries of Udolpho, novel by Ann Radcliffe, published in 1794. It is one of the most famous English Gothic novels. The work tells the story of the orphaned Emily St. Aubert, who is subjected to cruelties by her guardians, threatened with the loss of her fortune, and imprisoned in a number of

mystery religion: Painting: …superb Dionysiac frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries (Villa dei Misteri) at Pompeii show the initiation of a girl into the Bacchic Mysteries: in one fresco she is lifting the cover of a sacred casket; in a second scene three followers of Dionysus are practicing lecanomancy (divination by the…

detective story: …Hercule Poirot, in Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), and Miss Marple, in Murder at the Vicarage (1930); Lord Peter Wimsey, in Dorothy L. Sayers’ Whose Body? (1923); Philo Vance, in S.S. Van Dine’s The Benson Murder Case (1926); Albert Campion

Rowland V. Lee: …era, in 1929 he directed The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, one of the best talking pictures from that transitional year. It was an adaptation of a Sax Rohmer novel, and it starred Warner Oland as the evil genius. In 1930 Lee helmed the sequel The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu,…

Mysterious Island, American science-fiction adventure film, released in 1961, that is based loosely on Jules Verne’s book of the same name, a sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In the film a group of Union prisoners escape, via hot-air balloon, from a Confederate stockade during the American

The Mysterious Island, adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in French in three volumes as L’Île mystérieuse in 1874 and included in his popular science-fiction series Voyages extraordinaires (1863–1910). The Mysterious Island follows the adventures of a group of castaways who use their

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: …was Dokfa nai meuman (2000; Mysterious Object at Noon). Its structure was based on Exquisite Corpse, a parlour game adapted by the Surrealists in the early 20th century in which each player contributed to the making of a sentence without knowing what preceding players had written. For Mysterious Object Weerasethakul…

Alfred Hauge: …religious vein is the visionary Mysterium (1967; “Mystery”). In it, a man suffering from amnesia finds his way to a cloister where he is guided by dreams and visions and eventually healed by a perception of religious truth. Expanding his mythical and imaginative style by interpolating into a realistic narrative…

mysticism: Experiencing the hidden: …Carl Jung suggested the term mysterium coniunctionis (Latin: “mystery of the conjunction”) as a designation for mystical paradoxes. Mystics who conceptualize a mysterium coniunctionis—and not all do so—find it difficult to express the paradox in words, both in their own thoughts and in interpersonal communications. Words permit one to arrive…

astronomy: Kepler: Kepler’s first book, Mysterium cosmographicum (“Cosmographic Mystery,” 1596), was based on this idea. As a result of this book, Kepler received an invitation to work with Tycho Brahe, but nothing happened until 1600, when Tycho left his native Denmark and relocated to Prague under the patronage of the…

transubstantiation: But, in his encyclical Mysterium fidei in 1965, Pope Paul VI called for a retention of the dogma of real presence together with the terminology of transubstantiation in which it had been expressed.

Jakob Böhme: …known as Mysterium Magnum (1623; The Great Mystery), is his synthesis of Renaissance nature mysticism and biblical doctrine. His Von der Gnadenwahl (On the Election of Grace), written the same year, examines the problem of freedom, made acute at the time by the spread of Calvinism.

Christianity: God the Father: …a double form: as the mysterium tremendum (“mystery that repels”), in which the dreadful, fearful, and overwhelming aspect of the numinous appears, and as the mysterium fascinosum (“mystery that attracts”), by which humans are irresistibly drawn to the glory, beauty, adorable quality, and the blessing, redeeming, and salvation-bringing power of…

organized labour: Origins in Britain: Medieval guilds, which regulated craft production, clearly differed in function from trade unions, in that guilds were combinations of both masters and workers while modern unions emerged to serve workers’ interests alone. However, aspects of guild regulation—as in matters relating to apprenticeship—were incorporated into the objectives of early unionism,…

Hellenistic religion: The gods: …collective agricultural rite became a mystery, a salvific experience reserved for the elect (such as the Greek mystery religion of Eleusis). Other traditions even more radically reinterpreted the ancient figures. The cosmic or seasonal drama was interiorized to refer to the divine soul within man that must be liberated. Such…

Martin Delany: …started a weekly newspaper, the Mystery, which publicized grievances of blacks in the United States and also championed women’s rights. The paper won an excellent reputation, and its articles were often reprinted in the white press. From 1846 to 1849 he worked in partnership with the abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass…

Vladimir Mayakovsky: …Misteriya buff (first performed 1921; Mystery Bouffe), a drama representing a universal flood and the subsequent joyful triumph of the “Unclean” (the proletarians) over the “Clean” (the bourgeoisie).

Roy Orbison: …recorded a new solo album, Mystery Girl, his finest work in decades. Tragically, Orbison died of a heart attack only a few weeks after the release of the Wilburys’ album. Mystery Girl, released posthumously in 1989, featured the single “You Got It,” which remained in the top ten for 18…

Geoffrey Rush: …a supervillain in the spoof Mystery Men (1999), Rush demonstrated his comedic skills, which were on more subtle display in his impish rendering of the Marquis de Sade in Quills (2000).

Gabriel Marcel: Early life, philosophical style, and principal works: …work Mystère de l’être (1951; The Mystery of Being), based on his Gifford Lectures at the University of Aberdeen (1949–50). Other notable works are: Journal métaphysique (1927; Metaphysical Journal); Être et avoir (1935; Being and Having); Du refus à l’invocation (1940; Creative Fidelity); Homo viator: prolégomènes à une métaphysique de…

Arthur Conan Doyle: …short novel of this period, The Mystery of Cloomber (1889). Conan Doyle’s early interest in both scientifically supportable evidence and certain paranormal phenomena exemplified the complex diametrically opposing beliefs he struggled with throughout his life.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished novel by Charles Dickens, published posthumously in 1870. Only 6 of the 12 projected parts had been completed by the time of Dickens’s death. Although Dickens had included touches of the gothic and horrific in his earlier works, Edwin Drood was his only true

Ethiopian literature: …of Tewodros I (1411–14); “Mystery of Heaven and Earth” was written somewhat later and is noteworthy for a vigorous account of the struggle between the archangel Michael and Satan. This book must not be confused with another original work of the same period, the “Book of Mystery” by Giorgis…

C. Auguste Dupin: …well as the less-successful “The Mystery of Marie Roget” (1845), Dupin is depicted as an eccentric, a reclusive amateur poet who prefers to work at night by candlelight and who smokes a meerschaum pipe—foreshadowing the nocturnal Sherlock Holmes. Like Holmes, Dupin is accompanied by a rather obtuse sidekick, though…

Michael Curtiz: The breakthrough years: Even more impressive was Mystery of the Wax Museum, a quasi-sequel to Doctor X, with Atwill and Wray again struggling to the death. Less memorable were the five other films Curtiz directed that year: The Keyhole, Female, Goodbye Again, and a pair of films in which William Powell played…

mystery play, one of three principal kinds of vernacular drama in Europe during the Middle Ages (along with the miracle play and the morality play). The mystery plays, usually representing biblical subjects, developed from plays presented in Latin by churchmen on church premises and depicted such

mystery religion, any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. They originated in tribal ceremonies that were performed by primitive peoples in many parts of the world. Whereas in these tribal

Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), American television comedy show and cult classic that aired on several cable channels (1988–99) and Netflix (2017–18) before finding a home on its own streaming platform in 2022. The show focuses on the zany exploits of a human and several sentient robots who

Mystery Sonatas, group of 15 short sonatas and a passacaglia for violin and basso continuo written by Bohemian composer Heinrich Biber about 1674. Rooted in Biber’s longtime employment with the Roman Catholic Church and in the life of the Salzburg court in Austria, they are rare examples of

mystery story, ages-old popular genre of tales dealing with the unknown as revealed through human or worldly dilemmas; it may be a narrative of horror and terror, a pseudoscientific fantasy, a crime-solving story, an account of diplomatic intrigue, an affair of codes and ciphers and secret

John Sturges: Bad, Magnificent, and Great: …moving to MGM, Sturges made Mystery Street (1950), a crime drama starring Ricardo Montalban as a Boston detective investigating a murder and Bruce Bennett as a forensics expert at Harvard. Right Cross (1950) was a boxing picture about a fighter (Montalban) who imagines prejudice because of his Mexican heritage; June…

Douglas Sirk: Films of the early to mid-1950s: …the blockbusters to come: from Mystery Submarine (1950), a tale of a submarine commander who kidnaps a German scientist, to the musical comedy Take Me to Town (1953) and everything in between, those films are little remembered. All I Desire (1953), another period piece, starring Richard Carlson and Barbara Stanwyck,…

Jim Jarmusch: …comedies Down by Law (1986), Mystery Train (1989), and Night on Earth (1992).

Elvis Presley: From Tupelo to Sam Phillips and Sun Records: …he released the fifth, “Mystery Train,” arguably his greatest record ever, he had attracted a substantial Southern following for his recordings, his live appearances in regional roadhouses and clubs, and his radio performances on the nationally aired Louisiana Hayride. (A key musical change came when drummer D.J. Fontana was…

detective story: The Mystery Writers of America, a professional organization founded in 1945 to elevate the standards of mystery writing, including the detective story, has exerted an important influence through its annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards for excellence. See also mystery story; hard-boiled fiction.

David E. Kelley: His other movies included Mystery, Alaska (1999) and Lake Placid (1999).

Mystic, historic resort village in the town (township) of Stonington, New London county, southeastern Connecticut, U.S. It lies at the mouth of the Mystic River, opposite West Mystic. Settled in 1654, its name was derived from the Indian missituk (“great tidal river”). From the 17th to the 19th

Fra Bartolommeo: …Mary Magdalene (1509) and the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine (1512).

Hans Memling: John with the mystical marriage of St. Catherine to Christ as the central theme. Elaborate narratives appear behind the patron saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist painted on the side panels, while the central piece is an impressive elaboration of the enthroned Madonna between angels and…

Sandro Botticelli: Late works of Sandro Botticelli: …Mystic Crucifixion (1497) and the Mystic Nativity (1500), which expresses Botticelli’s own faith in the renewal of the church. The Tragedy of Lucretia (c. 1499) and The Story of Virginia Romana (1499) appear to condemn the Medici’s tyranny and to celebrate republicanism.

Matt Damon: Early life and career: …landed a small part in Mystic Pizza (1988) and also enrolled in Harvard University as an English major. After appearing in the television movie Rising Son (1990), he left Harvard to pursue an acting career just 12 credits short of graduation. Roles in School Ties (1992) and Geronimo: An American…

Clint Eastwood: 2000 and beyond: Mystic River (2003) set a new standard for Eastwood as a director. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins starred as childhood pals who have grown up to live widely disparate lives while still bound to the working-class neighbourhood they were born into. Eastwood took…

cultural anthropology: Marxism and the collectors: Bough (1890) and Ernest Crawley’s Mystic Rose (1902). These rather encyclopaedic collections of customs, religious and magical practices, and other curious data were read with relish by the intellectual community; the theories that accompanied the collections were equally appreciated by evolutionary-minded anthropologists, as the theories were meant to establish an…

Saʿd od-Dīn Maḥmūd Shabestarī: …poetic work Golshan-e rāz (The Mystic Rose Garden) became a classic document of Ṣūfism (Islāmic mysticism).

museum: Museums and the environment: …such as the renovation of Mystic Seaport in Connecticut as a maritime museum, the use of Ironbridge Gorge as a museum to interpret the cradle of the Industrial Revolution in England, and the restoration of the walled medieval cities at Suzdal and Vladimir in Russia. In Australia the heyday of…

Fifteen Puzzle, puzzle consisting of 15 squares, numbered 1 through 15, which can be slid horizontally or vertically within a four-by-four grid that has one empty space among its 16 locations. The object of the puzzle is to arrange the squares in numerical sequence using only the extra space in the

Christianity: The union with God: Christian mystics claim that the soul may be lifted into a union with God so close and so complete that it is merged in the being of God and loses the sense of any separate existence. Jan van Ruysbroeck wrote that in…

Christianity: Negative mysticism: God and the Godhead: This form of “mystical atheism” has seemed suspicious to established religion; its adherents have usually tried to calm the suspicions of the orthodox by an insistence on the necessity, though incompleteness, of the affirmative ways to God. One of the earliest and most important exponents of this teaching…

mystical body of Christ, in Roman Catholicism, a mystical union of all Christians into a spiritual body with Jesus Christ as their head. The concept is rooted in the New Testament and possibly reflects Christianity’s roots in Judaism; St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and Romans both use the