Arts & Books Mixed Bag 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Franz Kafka

Frank Kafka was born in 1883 into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, in what was then Austria-Hungary. 'The Metamorphosis' is one of his best-known works, along with his three full-length novels published in the 1920s, 'The Trial', 'The Castle' and 'Amerika'. Of the alternatives, Haptmann was a German-Polish diarist and playwright who won the 1912 Nobel Prize for Literature. Schiller was German poet and dramatist whose most famous work is the 1804 play 'Wilhelm Tell'. Goethe is perhaps Germany's most famous writer, best remembered for the epic drama 'Faust' which was not published in full until after his death in 1832.

Answer: 4

Austen's second novel, 'First Impressions', as it was originally titled, was written in the late 1700s but not published until 1813, shortly before the author's death.
Elizabeth, who is 20 when the novel opens, has a close relationship with Jane, who is two years older. Mary, two years younger than Elizabeth, is plain and bookish. Catherine, or Kitty, is a year younger than Mary and the baby of the family is Lydia, at 15.

Answer: Pygmalion

The legend of the sculptor Pygmalion is told in Ovid's 15-book narrative poem, 'Metamorphoses'. He becomes so infatuated with his creation that he even brings presents to her. In desperation, he prays to Venus, who takes pity on him and brings the statue to life.

As in all good stories, they live happily ever after and even produce two children, Metharme and Paphos. Of the alternatives, Daedalus was the father of Icarus (he who flew too close to the Sun), and was also a gifted sculptor -- he used quicksilver to allow his statues to speak.

Hephaestus was the sculptor who created the first woman, Pandora, from clay at the behest of Zeus. Talos was not a sculptor, but a giant bronze statue that circled Crete three times a day to guard the islanders.

Answer: 1813

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in 1813 in Leipzig, Germany. He is best remembered for his epic 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' (aka The Ring Cycle). Based loosely on Norse mythology, the operas that make up the Cycle are (in English) 'The Rheingold', 'The Valkyrie', 'Siegfried' and 'Twilight of the Gods'.

It took Wagner 26 years, from 1848 until 1874 to write the four-opera extravaganza and a single performance of the entire Cycle lasts more than 15 hours. The northern Bavarian town of Bayreuth stages an annual festival of Wagner's work which usually includes the Ring Cycle. If you want to attend, though, you'll need to book years in advance. And don't forget to take your autograph book along too -- it is one of Germany's society events of the year.

Answer: Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born in 1947 in Portland, Maine. Many of his novels are set in his home state and that is the site of the fictional 'Shawshank State Prison' in which the film's action takes place. The film's two main protagonists are Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, and Ellis 'Red' Redding (Morgan Freeman, who also narrates the film).

The screenplay was written by the film's Director, Frank Darabont, who also filled both roles on another King adaptation, 'The Green Mile'. Darabont earned Oscar nominations for the screenplay on both occasions. Of the alternatives, all have written novels that subsequently became blockbuster films. Ludlum was the author of the 'Bourne' trilogy as well as 'The Osterman Weekend' and 'The Matarese Circle' amongst others. Harris created the memorable Hannibal Lecter 'The Silence of the Lambs', 'Hannibal', 'Red Dragon' and 'Manhunter'.

Many Clancy novels have been adapted for the screen including 'The Hunt for Red October' and 'Patriot Games'.

Answer: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1899. He published his first novels, 'The Torrents of Spring' and 'The Sun Also Rises' in 1926. 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' was his fifth novel and the subsequent 1943 film earned nine Oscar nominations, including one for each of the stars, Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.
It would be another decade before Hemingway published another novel, in 1950. The last novel published during his lifetime, 'The Old Man and the Sea' in 1952, earned his both a Pulitzer in 1953 and the Nobel Prize for Literature a year later. Three more novels were published after his suicide in 1961.
The alternatives were all novels published in 1940 that were later made into successful films... 'Farewell, My Lovely' was Raymond Chandler's second Philip Marlowe novel, Robert Mitchum playing the sleuth in the movie. 'Journey into Fear' was an Eric Ambler spy thriller with Orson Welles starring in the film. 'The Power and the Glory' was a Graham Greene novel that was adapted into the 1947 film 'The Fugitive' starring Henry Fonda.

Answer: Edgar Degas

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas was born in Paris in 1834. Although preferring to call himself a 'Realist' he is widely acknowledged as one of the founders of Impressionism. He is known for his scenes of Parisian life and his paintings of horse racing at Longchamps, but more than half of his paintings are of dancing, particularly ballet.

Answer: Mary Shelley

Born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in London in 1797, Mary Shelley is best remembered for her 1818 novel 'Frankenstein' (aka 'The Modern Prometheus'). 'The Last Man', published in 1826, is set in what was then far in the future, more than 250 years on, but provides a remarkably astute vision of modern society and the dangers we face.

Answer: Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was born near Lyon in 1803. A prolific composer of the French Romantic school, he is best remembered for his 'Requiem' and for 'Symphonie Fantasstique'. He also wrote numerous notable operas including 'Romeo & Juliet', based on Shakespeare's play, and the epic 'Les Troyens (The Trojans) based on Virgil's 'Aeneid'. The alternatives are all French composers born in the 19th Century... Debussy was a post-Romantic, Symbolist composer remembered for his 'Nocturnes'.

He also wrote the opera 'Pelléas et Mélisande'. Ravel was an Expressionist composer from the same era as Debussy, and is best remembered for his 'Bolero' even though that was a composition of which he himself spoke disparagingly. Bizet, another Romantic, like Berlioz, is best known for his very last work, the opera 'Carmen', which was first performed less than three months before the author's death in June 1875.

Answer: David Copperfield

The full title of this Dickens classic is actually 'The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (which he never meant to publish on any account)'. Probably the most autobiographical of Dickens' works, it was the eighth of his 15 novels and the first to be written through the eyes of the main character. Like many Dickens novels, it was first published in 19 one-shilling monthly installments, chapters 1-3 appearing in May 1849 and the final, double-length installment, coming out in November the following year. All four of these Dickens novels begin with well known lines... 'Tale of Two Cities' begins: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness...". 'Hard Times' opens with the abrupt: "Now, what I want is Facts." 'Great Expectations' starts with the main character introducing himself: "My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip."