Portal:Literature/Did you know/Week 35

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

... that the Roman de la Rose is a late mediæval French poem about love and courtship, and that it was translated into Middle English — partly by Geoffrey Chaucer — as The Romaunt of the Rose (pictured)?

... that New York-born Anna Katharine Green was one of the first U.S. writers of detective fiction, and that her works inspired Agatha Christie to become a mystery writer?

... that Glenway Wescott's novel Apartment in Athens is set in Nazi-occupied Greece?

... that in the English-speaking world a matinée is the showing of a play in the afternoon, whereas in German-speaking countries the same word denotes a performance which takes place before noon?

... that Steven Berkoff's play Decadence was filmed in 1994 starring Joan Collins and the author himself, who also directed the movie?

... that Marsha Hunt was born in Philadelphia, was a member of the cast in the London production of the musical Hair, had a daughter, Karis, by Mick Jagger, published her first novel, Joy, in 1990, and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004?

... that the plot of Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis's 1993 movie Groundhog Day shows striking parallels to Ken Grimwood's 1987 time travel novel Replay?