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A Funky Lit Smorgasbord Trivia Quiz

A taste of many things wordful and imaginative (just enough to keep from overindulgence).

A multiple-choice quiz by Lofgeornost. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
Lofgeornost

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
55,282

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Very Difficult

Avg Score
6 / 15

Plays
1070

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. Which of the following is the translated title of the Japanese novel 'Kinkakuji'? Hint

No Longer Human

The Tale of Genji

Snow Country

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

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Question 2 of 15

2. Which of the following writers was not a suicide? Hint

Ernest Hemingway

Hart Crane

Arthur Koestler

Dylan Thomas

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Question 3 of 15

3. Rubashov is the central character of which Arthur Koestler novel? Hint

Darkness at Noon

The Idiot

Poor Folk

Fathers and Sons

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Question 4 of 15

4. To which literary work did Joseph Campbell attribute the origin of the term 'monomyth'? Hint

Nietzsche's 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'

Eliot's 'The Wasteland'

Joyce's 'Finnegan's Wake'

Shaw's 'Man and Superman'

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Question 5 of 15

5. Three of the following writers came from the same hamlet, where there was fired 'a shot heard round the world.' Which of the writers does not belong in the group below? Hint

Henry David Thoreau

Louisa May Alcott

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Herman Melville

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Question 6 of 15

6. From a hamlet, to 'Hamlet.' Which of the following characters speaks the last lines of the play? Hint

Horatio

Fortinbras

Osric

Hamlet

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Question 7 of 15

7. The play is Margaret Edson's 'Wit.' The character is Dr. Vivian Bearing. Vivian is an expert on whose poetry? Hint

John Donne's

Andrew Marvell's

Robert Herrick's

William Shakespeare's

8. Neil Gaiman is a writer probably best known for his 'Sandman' comic book series, but he's also contributed some novels to this wondrous world of reading. Which of the following is one of Gaiman's novels? Hint

The Drawing of the Dark

Neverwhere

The Book of the Dun Cow

Ariosto

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Question 9 of 15

9. The title of Chinua Achebe's renowned novel 'Things Fall Apart' comes from which W.B. Yeats poem? Hint

When You Are Old

Adam's Curse

The Second Coming

The Wild Swans at Coole

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Question 10 of 15

10. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's book 'To Whom She Will' was published under which title in the U.S.? Hint

Amrita

Heat and Dust

The Nature of Passion

Monkeys

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Question 11 of 15

11. Which of the following writers was not also a medical doctor? Hint

Stanislaw Lem

William Faulkner

Anton Chekov

William Carlos Williams

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Question 12 of 15

12. What was Toni Morrison's first novel? Hint

Sula

Tarbaby

Beloved

The Bluest Eye

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Question 13 of 15

13. Which of the following books was NOT written by Mark Twain? Hint

Roughing It

Martin Eden

The Gilded Age

The Prince and the Pauper

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Question 14 of 15

14. What's the meaning of the literary term In Media Res? Hint

the narrative begins in the middle

the story is told objectively

the narrator is omniscient

the story mimics a news article

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Question 15 of 15

15. Sting entitled one of his albums '...Nothing Like The Sun.' From which poet did he borrow the line? Hint

Herrick

Marvell

Marlowe

Shakespeare

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which of the following is the translated title of the Japanese novel 'Kinkakuji'?

Answer: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

'Kinkakuji,' or 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion,' was written by Yukio Mishima. It's the story of a young monk's struggle to comprehend beauty, as represented by the Temple he serves and ultimately destroys.

2. Which of the following writers was not a suicide?

Answer: Dylan Thomas

Hemingway, Koestler and Crane committed suicide, while Thomas infamously drank himself to death (I have heard Thomas' demise described as a twenty-four year long suicide, but that certainly doesn't match the immediacy of the others').

3. Rubashov is the central character of which Arthur Koestler novel?

Answer: Darkness at Noon

Rubashov, in author Arthur Koestler's words, 'is a synthesis of the lives of a number of men who were victims of the so-called Moscow Trials. Several of them were personally known to the author.'

4. To which literary work did Joseph Campbell attribute the origin of the term 'monomyth'?

Answer: Joyce's 'Finnegan's Wake'

Campbell borrowed Joyce's term and greatly expanded on it, making it the subject of his book 'The Hero With a Thousand Faces.'

5. Three of the following writers came from the same hamlet, where there was fired 'a shot heard round the world.' Which of the writers does not belong in the group below?

Answer: Herman Melville

Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Alcott were all residents of a small 'literary hamlet' known as Concord, Massachusetts. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who penned the line about 'the shot heard round the world,' was another neighbor. Melville also settled in the Bay State, but much further west, at Pittsfield.

6. From a hamlet, to 'Hamlet.' Which of the following characters speaks the last lines of the play?

Answer: Fortinbras

'Go, bid the soldiers shoot.' Fortinbras orders a round of shots fired in honor of the fallen Prince of Denmark.

7. The play is Margaret Edson's 'Wit.' The character is Dr. Vivian Bearing. Vivian is an expert on whose poetry?

Answer: John Donne's

Edson won the Pulitzer for 'Wit,' her first play. Emma Thompson has recently played the part of Vivian to perfection in a Mike Nichols HBO production.

Answer: Neverwhere

'Neverwhere' started out as a British television series, which Gaiman later novelized. Other novels he has written are 'Good Omens' (with Terry Pratchett), 'Stardust', and 'American Gods.'

9. The title of Chinua Achebe's renowned novel 'Things Fall Apart' comes from which W.B. Yeats poem?

Answer: The Second Coming

'...the centre cannot {hold;} Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...'

10. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's book 'To Whom She Will' was published under which title in the U.S.?

Answer: Amrita

A quintessential international writer, Jhabvala was born in Germany, raised in England, married and moved to New Delhi, and finally settled in New York.

11. Which of the following writers was not also a medical doctor?

Answer: William Faulkner

Faulkner pretty much stuck to the writing biz (after some early forays into postal work and night watchman duties). When novels didn't pay the bills he would head off to Hollywood and pen a movie script.

12. What was Toni Morrison's first novel?

Answer: The Bluest Eye

13. Which of the following books was NOT written by Mark Twain?

Answer: Martin Eden

'Martin Eden' was a semi-autobiographical novel written by Jack London.

14. What's the meaning of the literary term In Media Res?

Answer: the narrative begins in the middle

The narrative beginning somewhere well into the actual story is a convention of the literary epic "The Iliad", for instance, begins ten years into the Trojan War, and much of the poem relates what happened during those years.

15. Sting entitled one of his albums '...Nothing Like The Sun.' From which poet did he borrow the line?

Answer: Shakespeare

Shakespeare's 130th sonnet, in which he turns the Petrachan praise of women on its prettified head.

Source: Author Lofgeornost

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