What Next? Quiz / Test | Literature

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Margaret Mitchell refused to write a sequel to her 1936 book "Gone with the Wind". It was not until after her death that her estate authorised Alexandra Ripley to write one. What was it called?

Answer: Scarlett

"Scarlett" by Alexandra Ripley, published in 1991, was found wanting by critics although it became a commercial success. It carried on from where the original book left off. "Rhett Butler's People" by Donald McCraig (2007) gives Rhett's perspective on the original book. "The Wind Done Gone" by Alice Randall and "The Winds of Tara" by Katherine Pinotti were both unauthorised and ended up in court. The first is a slave girl's version of the original story and became a New York Times Best Seller; the second got published in Australia instead of the US.

2. Thomas Harris wrote "Red Dragon" in 1981, featuring a cannibalistic serial killer. What is the name of his sequel which was made into a multi-Oscar winning film in 1991?

Answer: The Silence of the Lambs

"The Silence of the Lambs", published in 1988, features an incarcerated Dr Hannibal Lecter drip-feeding information to FBI special agent Clarice Starling, who is trying to track down another serial killer. The film adaptation won five Oscars. "Hannibal", the second sequel by Thomas Harris, was published in 1999 and made into a film in 2001. "Se7en" was first made as a film in 1995 with a book based on the film subsequently being written by Anthony Bruno. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is by Stieg Larsson and was first made into a film in 2009.

3. The Shakespearean prequel "Gertrude and Claudius" by John Updike takes its title from characters in one of the tragedies. Which one?

Answer: Hamlet

All are plays by Shakespeare although "The Merchant of Venice" is not classed as a tragedy. In "Hamlet", Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark, is Prince Hamlet's mother and is now married to Claudius who became King of Denmark on killing his brother King Hamlet.

The former King Hamlet appears as a ghost in the play. John Updike's book has included elements from three sources of the story, tending to Shakespeare's version where there are inconsistencies and finishing at the end of Act I, scene ii of the play.

The book was published in 2000.

4. "Psychohistorical Crisis" by Donald Kingsbury was created as a sequel to the "Foundation" trilogy. Who is the science fiction author who wrote the trilogy?

Answer: Isaac Asimov

The trilogy was written during the 1950s. His books describe a galactic empire based on a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, which is used to predict the future. In the 1980s Asimov was persuaded to continue the series and wrote a further four books.

A number of other writers were then invited to continue the series. Donald Kingsbury was not one of them and so his book is not as constrained by Asimov's writings and, being written 50 years later, has the advantage of progress in scientific understanding since then.

The other authors named are well-known science fiction writers.

5. "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller is a satirical novel based on his Second World War experiences. Can you name the sequel he wrote, set some years later?

Answer: Closing Time

"Catch-22" was published in 1961 and was followed in 1994 by "Closing Time" in the same style. "Closing Time" follows some of the "Catch-22" characters as they come to the ends of their lives. The other three novels are also by Joseph Heller. "Picture This" follows a painting in a light-hearted jaunt through three historical eras. "God Knows" goes back to biblical times and King David's purported memoirs, and "Good as Gold" has American politics as its setting.

6. "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye" by J D California was banned from publication in the US as a reclusive author believed it to be an unauthorised sequel to his book. Who was the litigious author?

Answer: J D Salinger

J D Salinger, author of "Catcher in the Rye", died in 2010 whilst the court action was still ongoing. The protagonist in the book is Holden Caulfield. The sequel catches up with him (where he is referred to as "Mr C") in a nursing home some 60 years later. J D California is the pseudonym of Swedish writer and publisher Fredrik Colting. The other three are well-known American authors.

7. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, published in 1900, has many works derived from it. Which parallel novel, partly based on the world created in the original book, also gave rise to an award-winning musical?

Answer: Wicked

"Wicked" by Gregory Maguire was published in 1995 and formed the basis for the musical of the same name. There is also a book version of the musical. "Into the Woods" is a book/musical which uses the characters from several Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Perhaps a bit misleading, the book/musical "The Boy from Oz" is based on the life of Australian performer Peter Allen. "Rent" is a book/musical based on the opera "La Boheme".

8. "The Hunt for Red October" by Tom Clancy was adapted for a commercially successful film of the same name in 1990. Tom Clancy also wrote a prequel in 1987 with the associated film being released in 1992 (starring Harrison Ford and Sean Bean). What was the name of the prequel?

Answer: Patriot Games

CIA analyst Jack Ryan features in many of Tom Clancy's novels. In "Patriot Games" he starts off by saving the Prince and Princess of Wales from a kidnap attempt by an Irish terrorist group. "Red Rabbit" is the next in sequence of Tom Clancy's novels featuring Jack Ryan.

It was published in 2002. "The Pelican Brief" is by John Grisham and "The Red Dragon" is by Thomas Harris. Both have film versions.

9. Peter Pan as a character first appeared in J M Barrie's 1902 novel "The Little White Bird". Barrie later passed on the copyright of the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital. What was the official sequel commissioned by the Hospital?

Answer: Peter Pan in Scarlet

"Peter Pan in Scarlet" is a 2006 sequel to Barrie's 1911 novel "Peter and Wendy", which itself is a version of the 1904 play "Peter Pan". "Return to Neverland" was a 2002 animated film sequel to the 1953 "Peter Pan" film. "Hook" could be considered a film sequel to the 1911 novel and the 2004 novel "Peter and the Starcatchers" was first in a series of prequels written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.

10. "The Last Ringbearer" by Russian author Kirill Yeskov is an unauthorised sequel to which well-known Middle-earth trilogy?

Answer: The Lord of the Rings

All of the books come to us from JRR Tolkien although "The Simarillion" (a prequel) and "The Children of H�rin" were edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien. "The Last Ringbearer" is an alternative version of "The Lord of the Rings" as seen from the perspective of the beings of Mordor, who were defeated. Copyright laws and the litigious Tolkien estate have made it difficult to publish a commercial version of "The Last Ringbearer" in English.

Source: Author suomy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

What Next? Trivia Quiz

There are many well-known books but do you know about their sequels or prequels? This quiz takes a brief look at some of these. Let's see how you get on.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>