Famous Authors – Page 2 – Interesting Literature

Five Fascinating Facts about Epicurus

Fun facts about the philosopher Epicurus

1. Much of what we know about Epicurus’ philosophy is wrong. Epicureanism, the name of the philosophy inspired by the teachings of the philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC), is commonly understood to mean seeking out pleasure and then enjoying things to excess – whether it’s drinking too much, eating too much, or having too much sex. But Epicurus himself was, surprisingly, quite a frugal and restrained fellow. A bit of cheese now and then was, by all accounts, the most indulgent his tastes ever got.

10 Interesting Myths about William Shakespeare

Ten common misconceptions about Shakespeare

As this Saturday sees the 400-year anniversary of William Shakespeare‘s death, we thought we’d turn our attention to the Bard and the numerous myths that have grown up around his life and work. Here are ten of our favourites. As with many of the details of Shakespeare’s life we cannot be sure these are all complete nonsense, but nor can we confidently say the opposite; but we should be wary of making too many assumptions about Shakespeare’s life.

The word interesting obviously varies in its definition from person to person (and depending on which other words we use to describe it). But we hope you find the following corrected misconceptions about the Bard at least mildly interesting.

He coined hundreds of new words. Shakespeare was clearly a linguistic innovator, a poet who could use words in ways hitherto unseen. ‘Light thickens’ (Macbeth), for instance. But did he really coin all of the words usually attributed to him? He may well have invented some of them, but the actual number is undoubtedly somewhat exaggerated. The more we learn about word history, the more we realise that words once attributed to Shakespeare actually predate him. He used to get the credit for ‘alligator’ for instance; scholars have since traced that word back to the mid-sixteenth century, before the Bard was born.

20 Interesting Facts about Science Fiction

Trivia about classic science-fiction

In this post, we thought we’d share some of our favourite facts about science fiction, SF, sci-fi, call it what you will – partly because the world of science fiction has given the world some truly visionary writers but also some funny stories and curious facts. So, if you’re ready to boldly go to a literary galaxy far, far away…

Contrary to popular belief, Orson Welles’ radio adaptation of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds didn’t cause a nationwide panic.

In 2004, a group of science fiction authors wrote a novel, Atlanta Nights, designed to be unpublishable; it was accepted for publication.

Five Fascinating Facts about George R. R. Martin

Interesting George R. R. Martin trivia

1. Contrary to popular belief, George R. R. Martin’s middle initials are not a homage to J. R. R. Tolkien. Although George R. R. Martin is often referred to as ‘the American Tolkien’, it would appear that the two middle initials shared by both masters of fantasy literature are a coincidence and not a direct tribute to Tolkien on Martin’s part. Martin was born George Raymond Martin, and adopted a further middle name Richard upon his Catholic confirmation at age 13 (as, in fact, Martin himself confirms – as it were – in this video, at around 8:30 minutes in).

Five Fascinating Facts about Georges Simenon

Interesting trivia about the Maigret author

1. Georges Simenon, creator of Maigret, is one of the most prolific novelists of all time. The Belgian author Georges Simenon (1903-1989) published over 200 novels under 17 different pseudonyms and a further 220 novels under his own name. He also produced three volumes of autobiography. However, he’s best remembered for creating the detective Jules Maigret. (What distinguishes Maigret from other detectives such as Sherlock Holmes is the fact that he doesn’t appear to use analytical ‘deduction’ to get his results. He’s more of a ‘plodder’.) Simenon was born on Friday 13 February, 1903, in Liège, Belgium. Because his mother was superstitious, his birth date was recorded a day early. To this day, Thursday 12 February is often erroneously cited as his date of birth.