shoin-zukuri \'sh6-en-zu-'ku-re\ Style of Japanese domestic architec¬ ture. The name is taken from a feature called the shoin, a study alcove with a built-in desk. Other common features included the tokonoma and chigai-dana (built-in shelves). The style, derived from Zen Buddhist monastic dwellings, gradually replaced the shinden-zukuri style during the Muromachi period (1338-1573). It is characterized by a new modesty of
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
shoji > Shoshone I 1743
scale (forced on the aristocracy by loss of income); asymmetry and an irregular flowing together of masses; and the use of solid-wall construc¬ tion and sliding shoji, rather than the movable partitions that divided the main living space in the shinden.
shoji \'sho-je\ In Japanese architec¬ ture, sliding partition doors and win¬ dows made of a latticework wooden frame and covered with a tough, translucent white paper. When closed, they softly diffuse light throughout the house. In summer they can be slid back or removed, opening the house to the outside—a desirable arrangement in Japan because of the extreme humidity.
Shoji are a feature of the shoin-zukuri style.
Sholem Aleichem Vsho-lom-o- 'la-ksnA orig. Sholem Yakov
Rabinowitz (b. Feb. 18, 1859, Pereyaslav, Russia—d. May 13, 1916, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian writer. Drawn to writing as a youth, he became a private tutor at age 17 and later served as a government rabbi. Beginning in 1883 he published more than 40 widely translated volumes of novels, stories, and plays in Yiddish. English translations from his 14-volume collected works include Jewish Children and The Old Coun¬ try. His best-known character, Tevye the dairyman, was the subject of a volume of short stories that later was the basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof ( 1964).
Sholes, Christopher Latham (b. Feb. 14, 1819, near Mooresburg, Pa., U.S.—d. Feb. 17, 1890, Milwaukee, Wis.) U.S. inventor. His first experiments were with numbering and letter-writing machines. In 1868 he was granted a patent for a typewriter with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule; later improvements brought him two more patents. In 1873 he sold his rights for $12,000 to the Remington Arms Co., which developed the machine that was marketed as the Remington Typewriter.
Sholokhov Vshol-s-kafX, Mikhail (Aleksandrovich) (b. May 24,
1905, Veshenskaya, Russia—d. Feb. 21, 1984, Veshenskaya, U.S.S.R.) Russian novelist. A native of the Don River region, he served in the Red Army and joined the Communist Party in 1932. He is best known for the huge novel The Quiet Don, translated in two parts as And Quiet Flows the Don (1934) and The Don Flows Home to the Sea (1940). A portrayal of the struggle between the Cossacks and Bolsheviks, it was heralded in the Soviet Union as a powerful example of Socialist Realism and became the most widely read novel in Russia. It became controversial when Alek¬ sandr Solzhenitsyn and others alleged that it was plagiarized from the Cos¬ sack writer Fyodor Kryukov (d. 1920). Sholokhov’s later novels include Virgin Soil Upturned (1932-60). He received the Nobel Prize for Litera¬ ture in 1965.
Shona Cluster of Bantu-speaking peoples living in eastern Zimbabwe, west-central Mozambique, and southern Zambia. Numbering about nine million, they cultivate corn, millet, and sorghum and keep cattle. Their villages consist of mud-and-wattle huts, granaries, and common cattle kraals. Shona traditional culture, now fast declining under Christianizing and urbanizing influences, was noted for its ironwork, pottery, and music. Magic, witchcraft, and sorcery remain important. The Shona are believed to have built Great Zimbabwe.
shooting Sport of gun marksmanship. It typically involves firing at tar¬ gets with rifles, pistols, and shotguns. World championship competitions are held for the small-bore rifle, free rifle, centre-fire pistol, free pistol, rapid-fire pistol, air rifle, air pistol, and shotgun. Shooting has been an Olympic sport since the modem games began in 1896; women’s events were established in 1984. See also skeet shooting; trapshooting.
shooting star See meteor
shopping mall or shopping centre Collection of independent retail stores, services, and parking areas constructed and maintained by a management firm as a unit. It is a 20th-century adaptation of the histori¬ cal marketplace. In the U.S., postwar migration from cities to suburbs and
increased automobile use created a perceived need for centralized shop¬ ping facilities. The urban shopping arcade developed out of the need for shelter from the weather; Buffalo, N.Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, have charm¬ ing trussed and glass-roofed examples. The next generation of shopping malls, the large regional centre sited in a vast sea of parking lots, bears little resemblance to its small, arcaded ancestors. Two of the world’s larg¬ est malls are the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, and the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. In recent years large shopping malls have attempted to revive an arcadelike atmosphere, often featuring atri¬ ums and balconies.
shore See coast
Shore Temple Complex of elegant shrines (c. 700), one among a num¬ ber of Hindu monuments at Mahabalipuram, on the coast of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is considered the finest early example of medieval south¬ ern Indian temple architecture. Unlike most of its neighbours at the site, it is built of cut stones rather than carved out of caves. It has two shrines, one dedicated to Shiva and the other to Vishnu. Its style is characterized by a pyramidal kutina- type tower that consists of stepped stories topped by a cupola and finial, a form quite different from the northern Indian SIKHARA.
Short Parliament See Long Parliament
short story Brief fictional prose narrative. It usually presents a single significant episode or scene involving a limited number of characters. The form encourages economy of setting and concise narration; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but seldom fully developed. A short story may concentrate on the creation of mood rather than the telling of a story. Despite numerous precedents, it emerged only in the 19th century as a distinct literary genre in the works of writers such as E.T.A. Hoffmann, Heinrich Kleist, Edgar Allan Poe, Prosper Merimee, Guy de Maupassant, and Anton Chekhov.
Shorter, Wayne (b. Aug. 25, 1933, Newark, N.J., U.S.) U.S. saxo¬ phonist and composer. After studying at New York University and serv¬ ing in the U.S. Army, he played with Art Blakey’s group (1959-64), acting as its music director. Shorter then joined Miles Davis’s remarkable mid- 1960s group, which included Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter (b. 1937), and drummer Tony Williams (b. 1945). In 1970 Shorter and Joe Zawinul (b. 1932) formed Weather Report, the most significant jazz-rock “fusion” band of the 1970s, with bassist Jaco Pastorius (1951-87). Shorter wrote many distinctive jazz standards.
shorthair cat Breed of domestic cat. Show standards call for a sturdily built cat with strong-boned legs, a round head, round eyes, and ears that are rounded at the tips. The coat must be short and may be of almost any colour or pattern. Some colours, such as blue cream, are infrequently found in shorthairs; others, such as tabby (stripes and mottled patterns in silver, brown, blue, and red), are common.
shorthand or stenography \st3-'na-gr9-fe\ System for rapid writ¬ ing that uses symbols or abbreviations for letters, words, or phrases. Employed since Greek and Roman times, shorthand has been used in England since the 16th century. Popular modern systems include Pitman, Gregg, and Speedwriting. Many are phonetic and call for writing words as they sound (e.g., in the Pitman system, deal, may, and knife are writ¬ ten del, ma, and nif). Shorthand has been used in reporting proceedings of legislative bodies and courts and in taking dictated business correspon¬ dence.