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-->de Man

Belgian-U.S. literary critic. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1947, attended Harvard Univ., and in 1970 joined the faculty at Yale, where he remained the rest of his life. His groundbreaking Blindness and Insight (1971) made Yale the Amer. center for deconstructive literary criticism (see deconstruction). His other works include Allegories of Reading (1979), The Rhetoric of Romanticism (1984), and Aesthetic Ideology (1988). His reputation was undermined with the posthumous revelation of his wartime anti-Semitic writings for the pro-Nazi Belgian newspaper Le Soir.


Deccan
Peninsula of India south of the Narmada River. In a more restricted sense, it is the tableland between the Narmada and Krishna rivers, comprising Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Orissa. Its average elevation is about 2,000 feet (600 m). Its principal rivers, the Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri, flow from the W. Ghats eastward to the Bay of Bengal. Its early inhabitants were a Dravidian population not reached by the 2d millennium BC Aryan invasion. Ruled by Mauryan (4th-2nd cent. BC) and Gupta (4th-6th cent. AD) dynasties, it became an independent Muslim kingdom in 1347. Later split up into five Muslim sultanates, Deccan was largely conquered by the Mughal dynasty in the 17th cent. In the 18th cent. it was the scene of rivalry between the British and French, and subsequently of the British struggle against the Maratha Confederacy. It remained under British control until India gained independence in 1947.


deme
(Greek, demos) In ancient Greece, a country district or village, as distinct from a polis. In Cleisthenes' democratic reforms (508-507 BC), the demes of Attica (the area around Athens) gained a voice in local and state government. The Attic demes had their own police powers, cults, and officials. Males of 18 years of age became registered members of the deme. Members decided deme matters and kept property records for taxation. Each deme sent representatives to the Athenian boule in proportion to its size. The term continued to be applied to local districts in Hellenistic and Roman times.


dementia
Chronic, usually progressive, deterioration of intellectual functions. Most common in the elderly, it usually begins with short-term memory loss once thought a normal result of aging but now known to result from Alzheimer's disease. Other common causes are Pick's disease and cerebral arteriosclerosis. Dementia also occurs in Huntington's chorea, paresis (see paralysis), and some types of encephalitis. Treatable causes include hypothyroidism (see thyroid gland), other metabolic diseases, and some malignant tumors. Treatment may arrest dementia's progress but usually does not reverse it. See also senile dementia.


Demeter
In Greek religion, a consort of Zeus and the goddess of agricuture, especially grain. Though rarely mentioned by Homer and not an Olympian deity, ...

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