Famous First Words: European Literature (part two) Quiz

Answer: "The Castle" by Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka is surely one of the biggest names in literary history although he published hardly anything in his lifetime, and his greatest works risked being lost. In fact, had Max Brod not disobeyed his friend's instructions, the world would have lost out on a cultural jewel. It would also be bereft of the extremely useful term "Kafkaesque", which conveys meaning even to those who haven't read any of his stuff.

"The Castle" was the third novel Kafka began. When he began it, he'd already written bits of what became "Amerika", and one of his best known novels, "The Trial", but hadn't finished either of them. "The Trial" and "The Castle" share the theme of the absurdity of bureaucracy and the frustration it creates, albeit in very different ways. Kafka knew a fair bit about bureaucracy since he worked as a pen-pusher for insurance companies, a profession he lamented in his letters. Interestingly, much of what we know about Kafka the man comes from his extensive letter-writing to his father. These fascinating letters have also been published.

Goethe was a German proto-Romantic writer, and "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (1787) is one of his most important books. "My Ordinary Life" is a biography of Czech footballer Pavel Nedved. "The Cathedral" by a fellow Czech, Frantisek Kupka, is an orphic cubist painting.

Answer: "The Book of Disquiet" by Fernando Pessoa

Pessoa worked on "The Book of Disquiet" most of his life and still never really finished it. When Pessoa died a trunk filled with writings was found, some with clear notes as to how they were to be published, others without, and Pessoa scholars and editors have been trying to make sense of it all since.

Making sense of Pessoa is not the easiest job in the world as he wrote under a myriad (at least seventy-five) of "heteronyms". His heteronyms (as opposed to pseudonyms) are fictional authors with their own literary styles, opinions and biographical details, some of whom were very prolific, others who wrote very little. "The Book of Disquiet" was written by Pessoa's semi-heteronym Bernard Soares, although some scholars claim it was actually begun by another heteronym, Vicente Guedes, who wrote quite a lot of poetry. Bernard Soares might have been his reincarnation, although Guedes' death is disputed. Confused? Reading the book doesn't clear any of it up, but it's a fascinating rumination on everything and nothing.

"Blindness" (1995) by José Saramago is a more straightforward novel, although Saramago has a set of idiosyncrasies all of his own. "Perseguição" is one of Amália Rodrigues', the Queen of Fado, most popular songs. Portuguese football coach José Mourinho is often referred to as "the special one", especially by himself.

Answer: "Pornografia" by Witold Gombrowicz

Witold Gombrowicz went to Argentina on the maiden voyage of Polish ship The Chobry on 1st August 1939. Since World War II broke out while he was in Argentina, he decided to stay put and ended up staying twenty-four years. According to his fascinating autobiography "A Kind Of Testament", he snubbed the Polish community there although he did get involved in the Argentinian intellectual milieu, but his abrasive character led to his falling out with the Argentinians too. He became more and more dissatisfied with his life in Argentina, but wasn't keen to return to Poland, which had become communist since his departure, despite living in relative poverty.

Although Ferdydurke had been published in Poland in 1937, he was by no means a big name and whilst in Argentina he wrote articles for Argentinian newspapers and struggled to get anything more artistic published. He eventually got his novel "Trans-atlantyk" published in Paris, to little acclaim and significant disdain however. "Ferdydurke" and "Pornografia" were published by the Paris-based Polish literary institute "Kultura", which led to him moving back to Europe (first Paris then Berlin) in 1963. His health was faltering, so he moved to the South of France, where he kept writing and publishing. His work was finally gathering accolades when he died in 1969 of a heart attack aged 65.

"The Captive Mind" (1953) by Czesław Miłosz is a non-fiction book that deals with the relationship between intellectuals and the state in post-war communist Poland. "The Double Life of Véronique" (1991) is a film by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski. "Mission of the Redeemer" by Karol Józef Wojtyła (aka Pope John Paul II) is a Papal encyclical about the importance of evangelism.

Answer: "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol

"The Overcoat" is one of Gogol's most celebrated and influential short stories, having influenced Dostoyevsky, Nabokov (who concluded in his essay on Gogol "in the immortal "The Overcoat", he really let himself go and pottered on the brink of his private abyss, he became the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced"), and a host of other writers. Furthermore, debates still rage today over how it should be interpreted. It is, however, a very accessible piece of work and can be enjoyed as a simple, albeit grotesque, tale. "The Nose" shares many features with "The Overcoat", although it veers further into the surreal and absurd.

Gogol's most famous novel, "Dead Souls", was to be in two parts and the first part (titled "Dead Souls: A Poem") was published to great acclaim. Nobody really knows if Gogol ever finished part two of "Dead Souls", and two unfinished versions were published posthumously. Gogol is believed to have become fearful for his own soul, leading him to burn much of the manuscript. He then starved himself to death in 1852, aged 42.

"Suprematism" is a Malevich painting from the 1920s. Chekhov's "Three Sisters" is a 1900 play. Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (1913)is a ballet and concert piece.

Answer: "Against Nature" by Joris-Karl Huysmans

With "Against Nature" Huysmans made a concerted effort to break with Naturalism, which he criticized in the preface to the novel for "treading water", although many features of Naturalism are still there. Huysmans wrote to Zola before finishing the novel explaining his new project and forewarning him of his shift in style, but nonetheless Zola took almost personal offense to the book, describing it as a "blow to Naturalism".

It has often been claimed that "Against Nature" is the book referred to as "that poisonous French novel" in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", although Wilde never confirmed this. Furthermore, according to Simon Callow in his foreword to Huysmans' "With The Flow", during the trial of Oscar Wilde for gross indecency, Wilde was "invited to denounce Huysmans' novel... the non-French speaking Victorian public must have speculated wildly about the book (not translated into English until the 1950s) and its author. They would have been surprised and perhaps somewhat disappointed to discover that he was a clerk who worked for the Ministry of the Interior in Paris."

Huysmans followed "Against Nature" with "Stranded" (1887), a depressing and pessimistic novel full of dark imagery, but the public, perhaps expecting titillation, weren't very interested. He then wrote "The Damned" (1891) that dealt with Satanism, the occult, and the biographer of 15th century blood-thirsty Baron, Gilles de Rais, who was hanged for infanticide, sodomy and heresy. It was much more popular. Huysmans' further novels document the author's conversion to Catholicism.

"Fear and Trembling" and "On the Will in Nature" are both philosophical works. "Spirit of the Forest" is drawing by Odilon Redon, an artist greatly admired by Huysmans and "Against Nature"'s main character, Jean Des Esseintes.

Answer: "Marcovaldo" by Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino's parents were both Italian botanists who had travelled to Mexico, and then Cuba to pursue scientific research. Italo was born in 1923. They returned to Italy soon afterwards, and Mario grew up in the countryside around San Remo, on the Ligurian coast in the north-west of the country. This rural environment and his parents' profession had a strong influence on Italo's writing.

Their left-wing politics and atheism also had a great effect on Italo's writing, especially his earlier stuff and his journalism. Always the true artist, Calvino's prose is free from heavy-handed political messages, despite his committed involvement in the cause of communism. In the late 1950s Calvino, like many European intellectuals, became disillusioned with communism due to the rise of the Soviet Union and Uncle Joe Stalin's regime's criminal brutality.

I find Calvino was sometimes prone to writing baffling scientific-cum-philosophical tosh, and overly-clever, contrived post-modernism, but "Marcovaldo" is one of Calvino's more endearing tales of one man's frustration. The novel's simple literary style is refreshing and easy to grasp without being dumbed down, and no doubt for that reason it's a key text in Italian schools.

"The Moon and the Bonfires" (1950) is Cesare Pavese's best-known novel. "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (1883) by Carlo Collodi is a world-famous children's book. "The Carriage of the Spirits" by Ennio Morricone is a track from the soundtrack to Sergio Leone's spaghetti western masterpiece "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly".

Answer: "The Child of Pleasure" by Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele d'Annunzio was controversial both as a literary figure and as a politician, but unfortunately the English speaking world has lost out on the former due to the latter.

As a writer he's been accused of lacking morality, pessimism and misogyny. As a politician, he was on the "wrong side" in Europe's devastating, warmongering 20th century political history. Although he's never been actively censored, he's never really been championed either. "Child of Pleasure" is recognised by some as the masterpiece of decadent literature that it is, but it's often talked about in footnotes when it should be taking centre stage.

D'Annunzio, who came from a privileged background, quickly rose through the ranks thanks to his literary talents, and then got involved in Nationalist politics and Italian irredentism. Although he is seen as having laid down the foundations for Benito Mussolini's fascism, he had a turbulent relationship with the Italian dictator. In 1922 D'Annunzio "fell" out of a window and was seriously injured. Nobody really knows what happened, and various stories circulate to this day. Some say it was an assassination attempt, others think he was having his wicked way with a servant, both stories adding to the myth surrounding the man.

"The Prince" was published in 1532 and is generally considered as one of the first works of political philosophy. "The Leopard" was published posthumously in 1958. It deals with life in Sicily at the time of Italian unification in the 19th century. "The Street Enters the House" by Umberto Boccioni is a futurist painting.

Answer: "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" by Milan Kundera

Milan Kundera was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1929 but emigrated to France in 1975 and he has written in both his native tongue and French. His books were banned when Czechoslovakia was under communist rule, but have since been published there. Although he was originally an advocate of Czech communism (but not Soviet communism), he had several run-ins with the communist authorities, being thrown out of the party, readmitted and then thrown out again. He eventually recanted his communist beliefs. He became a naturalized French citizen in 1981, and is a very popular writer in his both his adoptive and native homelands, and elsewhere too.

"The Book of Laughter and Forgetting" is his third novel, and is a perfect example of Kundera's ability to weave very human stories with political observations and philosophical musing. Like all of his writing, there are hefty doses of humour that is at times satirical, at others ribald, and often bitter-sweet.

The hilarious "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek is a Czech modern classic, and has been written about by Milan Kundera, who was greatly influenced by it. "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt is one of the Austrian's most celebrated paintings. Footballer Milan Baros is a Czech international who signed for played for Turkish team Galatasaray S.K. in 2008.

Answer: "Thérèse Raquin" by Émile Zola

"Thérèse Raquin" was Zola's first attempt at illustrating the influence of heredity and environment on his fictional characters. Zola's naturalism was a kind of pseudo-scientific study through literature that didn't really work, but it produced literature of the highest order. Zola himself seems to have played down the "study" in the later books of his twenty-novel-strong "Rougon-Macquart" cycle.

Despite sharing some qualities, "Thérèse Raquin" is a very different book from any in the "Rougon-Macquart" cycle. One of the main differences is that it has a cast of just four main characters (and a cat) in a claustrophobic tale of adultery, murder, remorse, and madness. These gloomy themes would crop up again in the "Rougon-Macquart" series, but never in such a tightly set environment. In fact, Zola later adapted the novel for a successful stage show, and it lends itself perfectly to the stage.

"Old Goriot" (1835) by Honoré de Balzac is part of his "La Comédie Humaine" series. "The Floor Scrapers" by Gustave Caillebotte (1875) is an oil painting housed in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. "Life In Pink" is a literal translation of "La Vie en Roses", Piaf's signature song.

Answer: "The Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

"The Idiot" is one of Dostoyevsky's most celebrated works and has been cited, adapted, and pilfered ever since its publication in serial form in 1868. The longevity of the novel partly lies in the naïve yet profound main character Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin's charm. Whether he is in fact a saint or a hapless berk is a matter of opinion. I think he might be both.

The influence of Dostoyevsky, one of the big-cheeses of world literature, can be seen in a range of disciplines from literature, film, painting, theatre and even psychology and philosophy. Having said that, he didn't get off to an easy start, and his early novel "The Double" was panned by the critics at the time. It has since seen a resurgence in popularity, and is a firm favourite for many a reader (myself included). He later veered further towards politics, philosophy and theology, which his critics have said get the prose of his novels bogged down, but it seems to me that they are inseparable.

Dostoyevsky was sentenced to four years of hard labour for his involvement in the Petrashevsky Circle, seen as revolutionary conspirators. The main evidence against them were essays written by Dostoyevsky's associate Belinsky (a member of the group). However, Dostoyevsky had already fallen out with Belinsky over religion, the subject of the essays. He did his time however, and even got a book out of it, the understandingly depressing "House of the Dead".

"Crime and Punishment" was published in 1866 and has always been one of Dostoyevsky's most popular and influential tales. It is a wonderful book that manages to juggle all the usual Dostoyevsky themes and remain accessible to those not wishing to plough through abstruse passages in search of enlightenment.