Portal:Literature/Did you know/Week 24

... that a recurring theme in Eric Ambler's books is having as the main character an amateur who finds himself unwillingly in the company of hardened criminals and/or spies?

... that the title of Bernard MacLaverty's short story about a philosophy don, "Language, Truth and Lockjaw", is an allusion to A. J. Ayer's 1936 seminal work of philosophy, Language, Truth, and Logic? 

... that the clerihew was invented by E. C. Bentley?

... that a proscenium arch is a square frame around a raised stage area in traditional theatres which represents a style of theatre which has persisted since the 17th century but has become an almost derogatory term to many modern dramatists?

... that Moral is a 1909 comedy by Bavarian author Ludwig Thoma?

... that the dictum, "Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur", is ascribed to 1st century Roman satirist Petronius?

... that Notes of a Dirty Old Man is a 1969 book by Charles Bukowski, and that his creation &mdash; some say alter ego &mdash; Henry Chinaski has been ranked among the 100 Best Characters in Fiction Since 1900?