Great Literature Trivia Quiz

Answer: baseball

Roth's novel is a farce about America's national pastime, telling the story of the fictional Patriot League and some of the most dysfunctional characters in the history of baseball.

The novel tells the story of the Port Ruppert Mundys, a New Jersey based team that includes a one-legged catcher. This actually mirrors the lower standards in Major League Baseball during World War II. The primary criticism of Roth's book is that it tends to take the underlying joke and beat it to death. Roth also faced charges of misogyny, a common criticism throughout his career. Other critics charge Roth with racism, even though racism was a common element of life in the 1940s.

Answer: Stalag Luft III

Stalag Luft III was the site of one of the largest mass escapes during World War II. The camp operated near present day Zagan, Poland from March 1942 until its liberation in January 1945.

Brickhill's book details the March 1944 escape of 76 prisoners; only three successfully escaped. Fifty were executed by the gestapo, and 23 were captured and sent back to Stalag Luft III.

Stalag Luft North was the name of the camp in the 1963 motion picture, which was based on Brickhill's book. Stalag XVIII D was the site of the most successful escape attempt of the war; 105 escaped in August 1944. While Stalag XIII is probably best known as the setting for "Hogan's Heroes", there was a real Stalag 13 Hammelberg during World War I.

Answer: 1860s

"Great Expectations" was published as a serial novel in "All the Year Around" magazine starting in December 1860. It was Dickens' next to last complete novel.

The novels tells the story of Philip Pirrip, a young man who rises from humble circumstances thanks to a mysterious benefactor. Other key characters include Miss Havisham, one of the crazier characters in British literature, and Estella, Havisham's daughter and Pip's love interest.

Answer: Long Island, New York

"The Great Gatsby" (1925) takes place in West Egg, a community on Long Island. While parts of the novel take place in New York City, all of it is set in New York State.

Gatsby has come to symbolize the excesses of the Jazz Age. Gatsby's love affair with a young woman named Daisy Buchanan leads to a cascade of tragedies, including Gatsby's death. The book is narrated by Nick Carroway, a friend of Gatsby's from college. Fitzgerald based the characters on some of his wealthy friends from Long Island.

Answer: South Carolina

"The Great Santini" is set in Beaufort, South Carolina. It tells the story of Lt Clolonel Wilbur "Bull" Meachum, whose call sign is "The Great Santini". While Meachum is a very successful military officer, he has serious failings as a husband and father.

Much of the book is about Meachum's relationship with his oldest son. "The Great Santini" was made into a film in 1979, starring Robert Duvall as Meachum and Michael O'Keefe as his son. Both received Academy Award nominations for their performances, and Duvall won several critics' awards.

Answer: Hunter S Thompson

"The Great Shark Hunt" was originally published as "The Gonzo Papers, volume 1: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales of a Strange Time". It contains essays by Hunter Thompson from 1956 to 1976, including excerpts from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1971) and "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" (1973).

Thompson wrote frequently for Rolling Stone magazine, and was one of their lead political reporters for much of the 1970s. Garry Trudeau based the character of Uncle Duke in "Donnesbury" on Thompson.

Answer: Victorian England (1850s)

"The Great Train Robbery" is based on a real life event, the Great Gold Heist of 1855. Crichton uses the heist to comment on the mores of 1850s Britain,

Crichton began his career as a doctor, with an MD from Harvard, but he soon discovered that writing books was more lucrative than being a doctor. His first big success was "The Andromeda Strain" (1970), about extraterrestrial viruses, that was made into a major motion picture. During the course of his career, Crichton sold over 200 million books and had a dozen of his books turned into films, including "Jurassic Park" (1990). He also produced the successful medical drama "ER" (1994-2008).

Answer: Jack Johnson

"The Great White Hope" is set during the early part of the 20th century and focuses on the boxing career and personal life of Jack Johnson. Johnson (1876-1946) was the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion (1908-1915). Much of the play deals with his 1910 fight against James Jefferies.

The original production of the play starred James Earl Jones as Jack Jefferson and Jane Alexander as his wife Eleanor Backman, mirroring Johnson's inter-racial marriage. Both of them won Tony Awards and Drama Desk awards for their work in the play, and also received Academy Award nominations for their performances in the 1970 film.

Answer: L Sprague De Camp

"The Great Monkey Trial" is widely regarded as the definitive work on the 1925 Scopes trial over evolution. It was one of several non-fictions works written by De Camp, who was one of the more prolific science fiction and fantasy writers of the 20th century, De Camp is noted for "Lest Darkness Fall" (1939), one of the earliest alternate history stories published.

The book is based on the written documents surrounding the trial, including Scopes' memoirs, newspaper reports and trial transcripts.

Isaac Asimov wrote numerous non-fiction books, but not "The Great Monkey Trial."

Answer: C.S. Lewis

"The Great Divorce" covers some of the same territory that Dante and John Milton did, as it focuses on a journey between Heaven and Hell. CS Lewis uses a bus journey to illustrate the differences between the two after-lifes.

CS Lewis is probably best known for his "Chronicles of Narnia" series, one of the most popular set of children's books ever written. When he wasn't writing, Lewis was a professor of Literature, first at Oxford and later at Cambridge. Lewis died on November 22, 1963, the same day as John F Kennedy.