written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.
Questions tagged [literature]
39 questions
59
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Does Lebanon ban the diary of Anne Frank?
According to factslides, a reddit post, Wikipedia, and the Wall Street Journal, the Diary of Anne Frank is banned in Lebanon.
According to a reddit comment this is "rubbish". Other news reports a single private school in Lebanon removing references…
gerrit
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Was the name "Wendy" created for Peter Pan?
I ran across something odd today...
I have an iPhone app that lists facts, trivia, and other useless information (it's called Cool Facts, downloaded from iTunes). So far, nothing I've found on it has been terribly inaccurate. However, flipping…
Monkey Tuesday
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Are rape victims forced to marry their rapist, according to the Old Testament?
(Copied from http://www.theliberaloc.com/2012/05/14/traditional-marriage-according-to-the-bible/)
Relevant portion of the text:
Marriage = Rapist and His Victim (Deuteronomy 22:28-29)
Virgin who is raped must marry her rapist.
Rapist must pay…
Andrew Grimm
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Who wrote Shakespeare's plays?
One of the premises of a new film, "Anonymous", due to come out in a couple of weeks, is that Shakespeare's plays were authored by Edward de Vere, instead of by Shakespeare. The producers have also created educational materials arguing that…
Jivlain
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How much does wet sponge matter in electrocution process?
In Stephen King's novel The Green Mile and its film adaptation one of the characters (Eduard Delacroix) is getting electrocuted. Before the execution one of the correction officers instead of wetting the sponge placed under electric chair's cap left…
default locale
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Did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle call J.B. Rhine a "monumental ass" in print?
I need help confirming or debunking what may be an urban legend in the paranormal literature regarding the rocky public relationship between spiritualism believer (and famous author) Arthur Conan Doyle and American parapsychologist J.B. Rhine. The…
Tim Farley
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27
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Did Victor Hugo work naked to prevent himself from leaving his desk?
I heard this story numerous times. Allegedly, Victor Hugo would ask every day to a servant to take his clothes so that he would be forced to stay, naked, in his room and work instead of going out and waste time.
When Victor Hugo, the famous author…
mastazi
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26
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Did Shakespeare introduce over 1700 new words to the English language?
I was cruising the JREF forums, and while I am very familiar with many of the phrases he coined and popularized in the English language, a post makes the claim.
Shakespeare coined about two thousand words. Most English speaking people quote…
Larian LeQuella
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Did Native Americans call European people "pale-face"?
In lots of American Indian novels you can read that the native peoples of North America called European people "pale-face" or "pale-faced":
“Young Randolph! war-chief among the pale-faces! You have not then forgotten poor Haj-Ewa?” (Osceola the…
Quassnoi
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Did William Shakespeare say "I always feel happy..."?
Is the attribution of this quote to William Shakespeare correct?
I always feel happy. You know why? Because I don’t expect anything from anyone. Expectations always hurt… Life is short… So love your life… Be happy… And keep smiling… Just live for…
default locale
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Are the ingredients listed in "Macbeth" common plants?
It is easy to find dozens of sites claiming, generally without attribution, that the ingredients in the famously gruesome witches' brew from Shakespeare's play Macbeth are herbalist jargon for common plants. For instance, according to Aldersbrook…
Obie 2.0
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Does the asteroid 16 Psyche contain this much gold?
Some days ago, I read in several news sources [1][2][3] about an asteroid called 16 Psyche that is made up of precious metals such as gold and platinum. It's estimated worth is about $700 quintillion - enough to make everyone on earth a…
user36020
16
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1 answer
Who wrote “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.”?
Literature.SE is one of many (query credit to @Glorfindel) SE sites that run community promotion ads. One such ad (below) includes a quote by Samuel Johnson.
Ad credit to @Rand al'Thor (font choice) and @BESW (general layout).
“A writer only…
Barry Harrison
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Does the new Testament claim that Mary, mother of Jesus, was a virgin?
I have read from quite a few sources stating that there was a mistranslation in the Bible, calling Mary a "virgin" instead of a "young, marry-able woman". It would be interesting to know about such a big mistake in popular literature (that is, if it…
RandomDuck.NET
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Did William Shakespeare help make the KJV bible?
Many believe because of the placement of specific words in Psalm 46 that William Shakespeare helped in the translation of the King James bible to English.
In 1610, the year of the final editing stages, Shakespeare would have been 46 years old (born…
JasonR
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