Empedocles Goes to the Library at Sea Quiz

Answer: Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts was born Eleanor Robertson in 1950. She also uses the author's names JD Robb, Jill March and Sarah Hardesty. She took up writing in 1979, and has produced over 200 novels in 40 years. "Sea Swept" is the first instalment of the "Chesapeake Bay" tetralogy.

The protagonists are four young men who were adopted by Raymond Quinn, a professor in English language and literature. When Raymond dies early in the book, the three adoptive brothers (Cameron, Ethan and Phillip) each try to convince the social worker Anna Spinelli to give them custody over Raymond's last adoptive candidate, Seth.

Answer: Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende (born 1942) started as a journalist and translator. In 1982 she published her first novel: "La casa de los spiritus" ("The House of the Spirits"). Since then she wrote about twenty novels and some non-fiction books.
"La Isla Bajo el Mar" ("Island Beneath the Sea") is set on Hispaniola between 1770 and the debut of the Nineteenth Century. The protagonists are Zarité, a young orphaned slave girl of African descent and her master, the French nobleman Toulouse Valmorain. While Toulouse's wife descends into madness, he turns to Zarité for a sexual relation.

Answer: Jack London

Jack London (1876-1916) is best known for his novels "Call of the Wild" (1903) and "White Fang" (1906), both situated in the Yukon Territory and starring a half-wild canine.
"The Sea Wolf" (1904) is not about a canine, but about a ruthless captain named Wolf Larsen and his pupil Humphrey von Weyden, a meek companion. Both want to commence a romance with Maud Brewster, a wealthy poet lost at sea.

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

"The Old Man and the Sea" (1952) is about Santiago, the old man from the title. After a few days without success, Santiago the fisherman sets to sea again. What follows, is an epic fight between Santiago and a great marlin. Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American journalist. Most of his well-known novels deal with various episodes of his long stay in Europe.

The first World War (in which he drove an ambulance) is the setting for "A Farewell to Arms" (1929). "The Sun Also Rises" (1926) is a romance developing in Paris and Pamplona.

In 1940 Hemingway described his experience during the Spanish Civil War in "For Whom the Bell Tolls".

Answer: Iris Murdoch

"The Sea, the Sea" (1978) is a novel by Iris Murdoch. The protagonist , more than middle-aged actor Charles Arrowby, decides to retire to a cottage on the seashore in order to write his memoirs and to spend some time with an actress (Lizzie) he grew very fond with. But his plans come to nothing...
Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was a prolific British author. She debuted with an essay on Sartre's philosophy, followed by the novel "Under the Net" (1954). In total she completed 26 novels, half a dozen theatre plays, several philosophical essays and some poetry.
"The Sea, the Sea" won the Booker prize.

Answer: Khaled Hosseini

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul (Afghanistan) in 1965. The Hosseini family sought American asylum in 1980, as the Russo-Afghan War made it practically impossible to return to their country. Hosseini also adapted the American nationality.
In 2003 Hosseini debuted with the novel "The Kite Runner". Later he published "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (2007), "And the Mountains Echoed" (2013) and "Sea Prayer" (2018).
In "Sea Prayer", a Syrian father writes a letter to his son describing what could await them on their flight from the Syrian war zone around Homs and the crossing of the Mediterranean, hoping to find asylum in Europe.
Hosseini pledged to donate all book selling profits of this novel to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Answer: Jules Verne

Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French author of various adventure novels, some of which display traits of science-fiction. Verne is especially known for his series "Voyages Extraordinaires" ("Fantastic Voyages"), which include all of his best known novels.

This fifty-odd series contains the masterpieces "Voyage au centre de la terre" ("Journey to the Centre of the Earth"), "De la terre ā la lune" ("From the Earth to the Moon"), "Vingt mille lieues sous la mer" ("Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea") and "Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours" ("Around the World in Eighty Days"). In "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" the protagonist is Captain Nemo, who commands a fully equipped submarine (the Nautilus) disguised as a sea monster. The US Navy captain Ned Land and the French marine biologist Pierre Arronax try to track down the alleged sea monster, but are captured by the Nautilus' crew and have to accompany Captain Nemo forever.

Answer: Astrid Lindgren

The original title to this book is in Swedish: "Pippi Långstrump I Söderhavet". It is the third adventure of Pippi Longstocking, the extravagant nine year old girl with red hair (in two braids) and freckles who lives in a house with her horse and her monkey. Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) created this heroine for her daughter Karen.
"Pippi in the South Seas" relates how Pippi's long-gone father takes up contact with her again: her father inhabits a small island in the South Pacific, and Pippi with her horse and monkey as well as the two children from next door sail to the tropical island.

Answer: Clive Cussler

Clive Cussler (born 1931) published in 1996 this non-fiction book about various wrecks he tried to locate on the bottom of the sea, and the (romanticized) version of how these sank.
Cussler is better known for his series about Dirk Pitt and the National Underwater Marine Agency, a (fictitious) group of divers exploring the seven seas to find notable shipwrecks - and experiencing armed competition at that.

Answer: John Steinbeck

"The Log from the Sea of Cortez" (1951) is a description of the trip John Steinbeck (1902-1968) and his friend Ed Ricketts (1897-1948) made on board of a sardine fishing ship. Steinbeck is better known for his novels such as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men".
"The Log from the Sea of Cortez" was in fact based upon the notes Ricketts made during the trip, and Steinbeck only edited them for style. But the publisher insisted on attributing the work to Steinbeck, who was better known to the public.