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Evelyn Waugh Trivia Quiz

Try your hand at these ten questions about one of Britain's foremost satirists.

A multiple-choice quiz by skylarb. Estimated time: 3 mins.

Author
skylarb

Time
3 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
141,523

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
480

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Waugh's first published book was a biography of which artist and poet? Hint

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

John Milton

William Blake

T.S. Eliot

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Which of the following books takes its title from a poem by T.S. Eliot? Hint

A Little Learning

The Loved One

A Handful of Dust

Decline and Fall

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which of the following books takes its title from a poem by Alexander Pope? Hint

A Little Learning

The Loved One

A Handful of Dust

Decline and Fall

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. Tony Last, delirious with fever, wanders in a Brazilian jungle. He is nursed back to health by a man who forces him, at gunpoint, to read books by which author? Hint

Daniel Defoe

William Shakespeare

Mark Twain

Charles Dickens

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Question 5 of 10

5. Which novel contains a chief embalmer named Mr. Joyboy and a crematorium cosmetician named Aimee Thanatogenos? Hint

A Handful of Dust

Brideshead Revisited

Decline and Fall

The Loved One

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Question 6 of 10

6. Which book is subtitled: "The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder"? Hint

The Loved One

Vile Bodies

Decline and Fall

Brideshead Revisited

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Question 7 of 10

7. Evelyn Waugh was a convert to which religion? Hint

Buddhism

Judaism

Roman Catholicism

Anglicanism

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Which novel boasts the characters Adam Fenwick-Symes and Nina Blount? Hint

Vile Bodies

The Loved One

Scoop

Brideshead Revisited

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. Which novel is set on a fictional African island known simply as Azania?
Hint

Vile Bodies

A Handful of Dust

Heart of Lightness

Black Mischief

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. What was Evelyn Waugh's full name? Hint

Evelyn Auberon Alexander Waugh

Evelyn Waugh

Evelyn Aaron Alexander Waugh

Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Waugh's first published book was a biography of which artist and poet?

Answer: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The book was published in 1927. Rossetti was one of the founders of the so called Pre-Raphaelites and brother of the famous poet Christina Rossetti. He was a painter, a poet, and a designer.

2. Which of the following books takes its title from a poem by T.S. Eliot?

Answer: A Handful of Dust

The title comes from these lines in Eliot's "The Wasteland": ". . . I will show you something different from either / Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; / I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

3. Which of the following books takes its title from a poem by Alexander Pope?

Answer: A Little Learning

The autobiography "A Little Learning" appeared in 1964. The title comes from a line in a poem by 18th century neo-classicist Alexander Pope: "A little learning is a dangerous thing . . ."

4. Tony Last, delirious with fever, wanders in a Brazilian jungle. He is nursed back to health by a man who forces him, at gunpoint, to read books by which author?

Answer: Charles Dickens

Last is a character from Waugh's novel "A Handful of Dust," though this portion of the novel was originally published as a short story.

5. Which novel contains a chief embalmer named Mr. Joyboy and a crematorium cosmetician named Aimee Thanatogenos?

Answer: The Loved One

"The Loved One" is a satire on Hollywood, among other things. It was, interestingly enough, made into a rather successful movie by Hollywood!

6. Which book is subtitled: "The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder"?

Answer: Brideshead Revisited

Charles Ryder is the friend of a wealthy Roman Catholic family, the Marchmains, and it is he who narrates their affairs to the reader.

7. Evelyn Waugh was a convert to which religion?

Answer: Roman Catholicism

Waugh's faith deeply influenced his writing. He said that the purpose of "Brideshead Revisited" was to "exhibit, ultimately, the operation of divine grace" in the lives of people.

8. Which novel boasts the characters Adam Fenwick-Symes and Nina Blount?

Answer: Vile Bodies

This was Waugh's second published novel. It satirizes the socialites of London, and tells the tale of a poor young writer, who has fallen in love with an aristocrat's daughter.

9. Which novel is set on a fictional African island known simply as Azania?

Answer: Black Mischief

This was Waugh's third novel, and it went a long way toward establishing his reputation as Britain's leading satirist.

10. What was Evelyn Waugh's full name?

Answer: Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh

Auberon Alexander Waugh is Evelyn Waugh's oldest son. He is a writer, and also a journalist.

Source: Author skylarb

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
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