Portal:Literature/Did you know/Week 13

... that Antoine François Prévost's (pictured) 1731 novel, Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut has been used as the literary basis for a number of operas, such as Auber's Manon Lescaut (1856), Massenet's Manon (1884), and Puccini's Manon Lescaut (1893)?

...that rhymed prose has been popular in various cultures, ranging from medieval Arabic maqamat to modern rap?

... that Talk Radio is a 1987 stage play by Eric Bogosian about a shock jock, and that in 1988 it was adapted for the cinema by Oliver Stone?

... that Arnold J. Toynbee's 12-volume A Study of History (1934-61) is reputedly the longest written work ever composed in the English language?

... that Joseph Connolly's 1996 novel This Is It is about a womanizer leading a double life?

... that Frédéric Beigbeder, Don DeLillo, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Reynolds Price are among the authors who have written works about the September 11, 2001 attacks?

... that Alfred A. Knopf founded his own publishing house, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in 1915?