Kadare, Ismail (b. Jan. 28, 1936, Gjirokaster, Alb.) Albanian novelist and poet. The son of a post-office worker, Kadare became a journalist. Unhappy with the political environment in Albania, he eventually made his home in Paris. Among his better-known works are the novels The General of the Dead Army (1963), about post-World War II Albania, and The Castle (1970), which explores Albanian nationalism. The stories in Elegy for Kosovo (1999) concern a 14th-century battle between Balkan leaders and the Ottoman Empire. He was the only Albanian writer to have an international following in the 20th century.
Kaddish Vka-dish\ Jewish doxology (hymn of praise to God) that is usually recited in Aramaic at the end of principal sections of all synagogue services. Originally recited in the rabbinical academies, it later became a regular feature of the synagogue service. The prayer expresses, in addi¬ tion to the praise of God, the plea for the speedy realization of the mes¬ sianic age. The prayer’s association with the arrival of the messiah and the resurrection of the dead led to its becoming the prayer of mourners. There are four other forms of the Kaddish used in worship services.
Kadesh Vka-,desh\ Ancient city, western Syria. Located just southwest of modern Hims, it was seized by the Egyptian king Thutmose III in the 15th century bc. It remained an outpost of Egypt until it came under Hit- tite rule in the mid-14th century bc. The Egyptian king Seti I captured the city, and in 1275 bc it was the scene of a battle between Ramses II and the Hittite Muwatallis. After invasion by the Sea Peoples c. 1185 bc, Kadesh disappeared from history.
Kadesh-barnea or Kadesh City of ancient Palestine. Its precise location is unknown, but it was situated in the country of the Amalekites, southwest of the Dead Sea and on the western edge of the wilderness of Zin. It twice served as an encampment for the Israelites.
Kadet See Constitutional Democratic Party
Kaduna River \ka-'du-na\ River, central Nigeria. The main tributary of the Niger River, it rises on the Jos Plateau, flowing northwest and then southwest before completing its 340-mi (550-km) course at the Niger in Mureji. The Kaduna (meaning “crocodiles” in the Hausa language) is navigable only part of the year.
Kael Ykal\, Pauline (b. June 19, 1919, Petaluma, Calif., U.S.—d. Sept. 3, 2001, Great Barrington, Mass.) U.S. film critic. She managed an art- film theatre (1955-60) in Berkeley, Calif., while writing film reviews for magazines and broadcasting her reviews on network radio. After a col¬ lection of her reviews and essays, I Lost It at the Movies (1965), gained her national attention, she moved to New York and became film critic for
The New Yorker (1968-91). Her witty, biting, highly opinionated, and sharply focused reviews (of which five more collections were eventually published) made her arguably the most influential American film critic of her time.
Kafka Vkaf-ka\, Franz (b. July 3, 1883, Prague, Bohemia, Austria- Hungary—d. June 3, 1924, Kierling, near Vienna, Austria) Czech writer who wrote in German. Bom into a middle-class Jewish family, he earned a doctorate and then worked successfully but unhappily at a gov¬ ernment insurance office from 1907 until he was forced by a case of tuberculosis to retire in 1922. The disease caused his death two years later. Hypersensitive and neurotic, he reluctantly published only a few works in his lifetime, including the symbolic story The Metamorphosis (1915), the allegorical fantasy In the Penal Colony (1919), and the story collection A Country Doctor (1919).
His unfinished novels The Trial (1925), The Castle (1926), and Amerika (1927), published posthu¬ mously against Kafka’s wishes, express the anxieties and alienation of 20th-century humanity. His visionary tales, with their inscrutable mixture of the normal and the fantastic, have provoked a wealth of inter¬ pretations. Kafka’s posthumous reputation and influence have been enor¬ mous, and he is regarded as one of the great European writers of the 20th century.
Kafue \ka-'fii-a\ National Park National park, south-central Zam¬ bia. Located west of Lusaka, it was established in 1950. It occupies an area of 8,650 sq mi (22,400 sq km) and consists of a vast plateau, situ¬ ated along the middle reaches of the Kafue River. The park is noted for its lush vegetation and abundant wildlife, including hippopotamuses, zebras, elephants, black rhinoceroses, and lions. Safaris are conducted on foot.
Kafue River River rising on the Democratic Republic of the Congo- Zambia border. It meanders south and eventually flows southeast to join the Zambezi River near Chirundu, Zimbabwe, after a course of 600 mi (960 km). It cuts through the plateau of central Zambia, and its basin contains Kafue National Park. It is one of Zambia’s major rivers, and its waters are used for irrigation and hydroelectric power.
Kagame \ka-'ga-ma\, Paul (b. October 1957, Rwanda) President of Rwanda from 2000. An ethnic Tutsi, Kagame grew up in exile in Uganda, where in 1986 he helped overthrow Milton Obote in favour of Yoweri Museveni. In 1990 he helped direct an unsuccessful coup in Rwanda, and following the 1994 genocide that left almost one million Rwandans dead (most of them Tutsi), he assumed control of the joint Tutsi-Hutu opposition forces that soon controlled all of Rwanda. In July 1994 he was named vice president and minister of defense under Hutu president Pasteur Bizimungu. After Bizimungu resigned in 2000, Kagame was named president. In 1997 he was instrumental in the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in neighbouring Zaire (Congo) and the installation of Laurent Kabila as president.
Kaganovich \k9-g9-'no-vich\, Lazar (Moiseyevich) (b. Nov. 22, 1893, Kabany, near Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. July 25, 1991, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet political leader. He joined the Bolshe¬ viks in 1911 and became head of the Soviet government of Tashkent in 1920. As head of the Moscow party organization (1930-35), he brought it firmly under Joseph Stalin’s control and with Vyacheslav Molotov formed the core of Stalin’s “post-purge” Politburo (see purge trials). Until 1953 he was largely responsible for heavy industry in the Soviet Union. Under Nikita Khrushchev, he held administrative posts, but he opposed de-Stalinization and joined the unsuccessful attempt to depose Khrush¬ chev in 1957, as a result of which he lost all his offices.
Kagera River \ka-'ga-ra\ River, northwestern Tanzania. The most remote headstream of the Nile River and the largest tributary of Lake Vic¬ toria, it rises in Burundi near the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika and flows north, constituting the boundary between Tanzania and Rwanda. Turning
1883, Prague, Bohemia, Austna-
Kafka
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1010 I kagura ► Kakinomoto Hitomaro
east, it forms the boundary between Tanzania and Uganda before empty¬ ing into Lake Victoria. It is about 250 mi (400 km) long.
kagura \'ka-gu-,ra\ In Shinto, a traditional style of music and dancing used in religious ceremonies. Kagura dances dedicated to native deities are a reenactment of the propitiatory dance that lured the sun goddess Amaterasu from her cave in ancient myth. Largely unchanged for the past 1,500 years, the dances are performed to the accompaniment of chants, drums, brass gongs, and flutes. The music is of two types: one to praise the spirits or seek their aid, the other to entertain the gods.
Kahlo Vka-lo\ (y Calderon de Rivera), (Magdalena Carmen) Frida (b. July 6, 1907, Coyoacan,
Mex.—d. July 13, 1954, Coyoacan)
Mexican painter. The daughter of a German Jewish photographer, she had polio as a child and at 18 suffered a serious bus accident. She subse¬ quently underwent some 35 opera¬ tions; during her recovery, she taught herself to paint. She is noted for her intense self-portraits, many reflecting her physical ordeal. Like many artists working in post-revolutionary Mexico, Kahlo was influenced by Mexican folk art; this is apparent in her use of fantastical elements and bold use of colour, and in her depic¬ tions of herself wearing traditional Mexican, rather than European-style, dress. Her marriage to painter Diego Rivera (from 1929) was tumultuous but artistically rewarding. The Surre¬ alists Andre Breton and Marcel Du¬ champ helped arrange exhibits of her work in the U.S. and Europe, and though she denied the connection, the dreamlike quality of her work has often led historians to identify her as a Surrealist. She died at 47. Her house in Coyoacan is now the Frida Kahlo Museum.