FunTrivia Literature Mix: Vol 5 Quiz

Answer: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is the novel in question. Socialite Dorian Gray sells his soul to the devil so that a portrait previously painted of him would age while he would not.

Question by player CmdrK

Answer: Beowulf

Gardner uses the novel "Grendel" to examine the monster from a philosophical point of view, particularly that of Jean-Paul Sartre. Irony stems from the fact that the "monster" Grendel is revealed to have a much deeper understanding of morality than the "hero" Beowulf.

Question by player daBomb619

Answer: Emily Jane Bronte

Charlotte Bronte wrote "Jane Eyre" and Anne wrote "Agnes Gray". Maria, Elizabeth, and Branwell (the only boy) round out the six. Interestingly, Branwell was considered the most promising of the children, although he failed to show himself at the Royal Academy when he was sent there, and subsequently spent his money on alcohol and other trivial pursuits.

He died at age 31.

Question by player klinski_1987

Answer: Nancy Drew

Written under the pseudonym of Carolyn Keene, the "Nancy Drew" series of books were first published in the 1930s. The series was conceptualized by publisher Edward Stratemeyer, who then hired a team of writers to ghost write the books under the collective name of Carolyn Keene. Nancy, along with her best friends, Bess and George, solved many mysteries in the town of River Heights. The crimes became more sophisticated in the later novels. The popularity of the books has also spawned television series and video games.

The other three options are also female detectives, but have left their teenage years long behind.

Question by player zorba_scank

Answer: J.K. Rowling

Rowling came up with the idea for her first book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. From there it took her seven years to write and publish the novel.

Question by player RavinShadow

Answer: The Owl and the Pussycat

Edward Lear (1812-1888) was a prolific author of many travel books, having spent many years traveling constantly between his home in England and a great number of places around the Mediterranean Sea and as far as India. He was a painter, an illustrator, a musician, but he is best remembered for his books of nonsense poems and songs, "The Owl and the Pussycat" perhaps his most famous.

The "runcible" spoon in question has the definition of being a curved fork of three tines, with a cutting edge. Lear, however, coined the word itself.

Question by player JaneofGaunt

Answer: Junktown

Yet again Qwill was writing about a subject he knew nothing about. Varnish won't completely dry in humid weather, who knew?

Question by player Tarotgal

Answer: The bubonic plague

The ten storytellers are actually just ten people who were fleeing the bubonic plague and ended up telling stories in the villa to keep themselves from concentrating on the plague. The stories vary in themes as some are tragic, comedic, or even erotic.

Question by player trident

Answer: One Hundred Years of Solitude

This is one of the fine works written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is a classic novel that has been translated into many different languages. It is believed to be one of the finest fiction novels written about the Latin-American race.

Question by player Cross36

Answer: Cornwall

The novel is a paranormal road trip by a group of telepathic teenagers across various locations in Cornwall. "Jamaica Inn", by Daphne Du Maurier, was set on Bodmin Moor. "Poldark" was written by Winston Graham and was originally set in Perranporth Cornwall.

Question by player jeopardywinner