belles-lettres

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belles-lettres

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

belles-lettres [from the French for literature, literally "fine letters" ], literature that is appreciated for the beauty, artistry, and originality of its style and tone rather than for its ideas and informational content. Earlier the term was synonymous with literature, referring particularly to fiction, poetry, drama, criticism, and essays. However, belletristic literature has come to mean light, artificial writing and essays extolling the beauties of literature.

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belles-lettres

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

belles-lettres XVIII. — F., lit. ‘fine letters or literature’, parallel to beaux arts fine arts; see BELLE, LETTER.
Hence belletrist, belletristic XIX.

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T. F. HOAD. "belles-lettres." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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belles-lettres

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | © The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

belles-let·tres / ˌbel ˈletrə/ • pl. n. [also treated as sing.] 1. essays, particularly of literary and artistic criticism, written and read primarily for their aesthetic effect. 2. literature considered as a fine art. DERIVATIVES: bel·let·rism / belˈletrizəm/ n. bel·let·rist / belˈletrist/ n. bel·let·ris·tic / ˌbeləˈtristik/ adj.

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Belles lettres.(Letter to the Editor)
Magazine article from: Victoria; 4/1/2003; 700+ words ; ...hope more readers will brighten Belles Lettres with their own impressions of our...originals please) to: Belles Lettres, Victoria Magazine, 224 W. 57th...hearst.com, including "Belles Lettres" in the subject line. We reserve...
Belles lettres.
Magazine article from: Victoria; 5/1/2003; 700+ words ; ...photocopies of all material (no originals please) to: Belles Lettres, Victoria Magazine, 224 W. 57th St., New York...mail us at victoriamag@hearst.com, including "Belles Lettres" in the subject line. We reserve the right to edit...
BELLES LETTRES: ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS BY THE MASTERS OF FRENCH LITERATURE.(Review)
Magazine article from: Europe; 10/1/2001; 490 words ; ...report that many among the latter group will find Belles Lettres an engrossing look at French history, thanks especially...effort have further refined their successful formula. Belles Lettres includes works from the thirteenth to the twentieth...
belles lettres.(mail)
Magazine article from: Victoria; 10/1/2001; 700+ words ; ...of all material (no originals please) to: Belies Lettres, Victoria Magazine, 224 W. 57th St., New York...mail us at victoriamag@hearst.com, including "Belles Lettres" In the subject line. We reserve the right to edit...
Belles lettres.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
Magazine article from: Victoria; 2/1/2002; 700+ words ; After seeing the examples of illustrated travel journals in Belles Lettres, I was inspired to create one of my own [above right]. I took some watercolor and drawing classes before I left for Paris...
Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres
Magazine article from: Rhetoric & Public Affairs; 4/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. By Hugh Blair. Edited with an Introduction by Linda Ferreira...years. Though editions of Hugh Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Letters are far too numerous to count, Linda Ferreira-Buckley...
A bountiful year for biography and belles-lettres
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 12/8/1991; ; 700+ words ; ...Scarlett" (which might have been subtitled "A Southern Belle Does Ireland") hit the best-seller lists long before its...them. It was a bountiful year for biography, fiction and belles-lettres, with first-timers making a notable showing alongside their...
Belle Lettres Blues
Magazine article from: The Texas Observer; 5/11/2001; ; 700+ words ; Belle Lettres Blues BY DON GRAHAM In the bar in the Menger Hotel in San Antonio last year, after the annual banquet of the Texas Institute of...
Belle Lettres for Kids
Newspaper article from: AsianWeek; 10/20/2004; ; 700+ words ; ...started reading in 1999, one of my very favorite writers, Belle Yang, produced her first children's title, Chili-Chili...colorful energy. WHERE DID THE INSPIRATION FOR HANNAH COME FROM? Belle Yang: The story actually came before Chili-Chili-Chin...
BELLES LETTRES OF AMHERST A scholar invents an epistolary novel starring Emily Dickinson, young poetic hothead
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 9/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; I NEVER CAME TO YOU IN WHITE By Judith Farr. Houghton Mifflin: Peter Davison. 223 pp. $21.95. Gail Caldwell is chief book critic of the Globe. A slight, ebullient woman, she tended her beloved garden at dusk and left her father's house only rarely after the age of 29. She fiddled with geometry in

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