German Literature Trivia Game | German Literature

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which German playwright is the most modern of these?

Answer: Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is a famous German playwright from the twentieth century. One of his best known works is "Mother Courage and Her Children" about the wartime. Goethe, Schiller, and Lessing all lived in the time of the eighteenth century, but their works are still loved and read in modern day.

2. Which of the following was written by German writer Hermann Hesse?

Answer: Siddhartha

Published in 1922, "Siddhartha" is one of Hesse's most well-known works. "Siddhartha" follows the title character on his spiritual journey to individualism and enlightenment. This work also reflects Hesse's interest and enthusiasm for eastern philosophy. "Beyond Good and Evil" (1886) was written by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. "Nathan the Wise" (1779) was a play by German writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. "Castle Gripsholm" (1931) was a story by German writer Kurt Tucholsky.

3. Which of Goethe's works was once banned in some parts of Europe due to its potential to inspire suicidal behavior?

Answer: The Sorrows of Young Werther

Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" (1774), a solemn novel about unrequited love, was once banned in Leipzig, Italy, and in Denmark, out of fear of the public's melancholic response. "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" (1796) is another one of Goethe's novels. "Faust" (1790) and "Egmont" (1788) are Goethe's well-known plays.

4. Which of these German writers is most associated with poetry?

Answer: Heinrich Heine

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) is known for his lyric poetry. One of his best known works is "Book of Songs" (1829), a collection of poems and songs. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is a German modernist playwright. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) and Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) are famous German philosophers.

5. Which writer spoke German, but was not born in Germany?

Answer: Franz Kafka

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is a German-speaking Bohemian author born in Prague. Kafka is known for writing the allegorical novella "The Metamorphosis" (1915). Schiller, Storm, and Arendt were all born in Germany.

6. What is the "Sturm und Drang" literary movement associated with?

Answer: Romanticism

The "Sturm und Drang" (Storm and Stress) movement characterized German romanticism and countered the rational Enlightenment and Neo-Classicism. This movement in literature, art, and music emphasized emotion, nature, and individualism.

7. Which German writer is commonly accredited with creating the literary genre of a Bildungsroman, which focuses on a protagonist's learning and coming of age?

Answer: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Goethe's novel "Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship" (1796) is often attributed with the creation of the Bildungsroman genre. The novel centers around the protagonist's personal growth into adulthood. Kant and Herder were eighteenth-century German philosophers. Hesse did write the individualistic novel "Siddhartha" (1922), but the work came after Goethe's Bildungsroman.

8. Who wrote the World War One era novel "All Quiet on the Western Front"?

Answer: Erich Maria Remarque

"All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) was written by German war veteran Erich Maria Remarque (1898-1970). The novel details the brutal realities that soldiers faced on the Western Front in World War One. Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is an Austrian poet.

Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) is a German novelist. Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) is an American novelist who also wrote novels about World War One.

9. Which German opera did NOT take inspiration from German Medieval literature?

Answer: Salome

The opera "Salome", first premiered in 1905, was written by German composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949). "Salome" was inspired by the Old Testament story of the dance of Salome. "Lohengrin", "Tristan und Isolde", and "Parsifal" are famous German operas written by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). These three operas took inspiration from German Medieval literature.

10. Which of these literary characters is NOT based on a real person in history?

Answer: Mephisto

Mephisto, or Mephistopheles, from German folklore is the demonic figure in Goethe's "Faust" (1790). Mephisto is commonly known to be the figure of the devil. The protagonist of the play, named Faust, is based on the real person Johann Georg Faust, an alchemist and magician from the German Renaissance. Hans Sachs is one of the main characters in Wagner's opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" (1868) and is based on the real-life German poet Hans Sachs (1494-1576) from Nuremberg. Baron Munchausen is a fictional character in the book "Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia" (1785) by German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736-1794).

The character is based on the real-life baron Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen.

Source: Author dersteppenwolf

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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German Literature Trivia Quiz

Test your knowledge of German literature from different time periods. "Viel Glück"

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