Interesting facts about a groundbreaking writer 1. Aphra Behn wrote one of the first novels in English. However, which of her works qualifies for the title ‘early novel’ is a tricky issue. The mantle usually goes to Oroonoko, her 1689 ‘true history’ of a ‘Royal Slave’, about a prince from Africa […]
Facts about Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, aka Molière 1. Molière died shortly after collapsing on stage during one of his own plays. Molière’s play Le malade imaginaire, known in English as The Imaginary Invalid or, alternatively, The Hypochondriac, was first staged in February 1673. Molière acted in the production, taking the lead role of Argan (the hypochondriac of the […]
Interesting trivia about American writers and their work As it’s Independence Day, how about some facts about the great and the good from American literature, from Edgar Allan Poe to Toni Morrison? What follows is a compilation of our 25 favourite facts about American authors and their writing. Edgar Allan […]
Curious facts about the life and work of Ayn Rand 1. Ayn Rand was an extra in one of Cecil B. DeMille’s films. Rand met the acclaimed director in Hollywood and was offered the chance to feature as an extra in The King of Kings, DeMille’s 1927 silent film about the […]
In this guest post, Dr Peter Templeton offers some fascinating facts about a largely forgotten American author, John Pendleton Kennedy (1795-1870). It isn’t out of the ordinary for an author who is popular in their own day to fall from grace in later years. Sometimes this is accelerated or amplified […]