It Was the Blurst of Times Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens wrote 15 novels plus 27 shorter works. "A Tale of Two Cities" was his twelfth novel, and one of the two historical novels he wrote. Dickens died of a stroke in 1870, leaving his final novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", unfinished.

The actual quote from "A Tale of Two Cities", written in 1859, has the longest opening sentence that I know.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Answer: Moby-Dick; or, the Whale

The first line from Chapter 1 of Herman Melville's novel "Moby-Dick; or, The Whale" written in 1851 is: "Call me Ishmael." But Melville starts the book with an etymology (writing giving the background of a story). So you might say the novel starts with this line: "The pale usher-threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now."

"Moby Dick" got good reviews from critics, but sold poorly. The Epilogue, explaining how Ishmael survived, was originally omitted from first publication, leaving many readers displeased with the ending that all on board perished, as well as not explaining how Ishmael could recount the story.

Answer: The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald was a prolific writer of the early 20th Century, but fell out of popularity later in life. At the time of his death in 1940, not one of his books was in print. However, after World War II, his works regained popularity.

The opening lines from F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby", written in 1925, are: "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

Answer: The Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for his novella "The Old Man and the Sea". He also received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 for his many works.

The opening line from this novella, written in 1951 is:

"He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish."

Answer: 1984

The opening lines from George Orwell's novel "1984", first published in 1949, is:
"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

This book is an example of dystopian literature, which offers a criticism, or warning, for the time in which the author lived. Orwell wrote "1984" just after World War II. He wanting it to serve as a warning concerning losing our freedoms to government.

Answer: The Tell-Tale Heart

The opening line from Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is: "True! nervous - very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?"

Poe was a part of the American Gothic literary movement that became popular in the 19th century. He first published this story in January 1843, in the short-lived "Pioneer" magazine.

Answer: Metamorphosis

Translated from German, the opening lines from Franz Kafka's short story "Metamorphosis" (originally "Die Verwandlung"), written in 1916, is: "When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself in bed changed into an enormous insect."

There have been other translations in place of the word 'insect' such as 'unclean creature'. Kafka was from a region that was then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and is now in the Czech Republic.

Answer: A Christmas Carol

Though Charles Dickens' story "A Christmas Carol", written in 1843, was not a favorite of critics, it was and is still one of his most loved works. In 1853 Dickens adapted "A Christmas Carol" for a touring public performance. For his readings, Dickens used a special copy of the text that allowed space to make alterations and give directions.

The actual opening of the story is "Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a doornail."

I'm not sure how a doornail is dead.

Answer: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

"Alice in Wonderland" was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Charles studied mathematics at Oxford, and later wrote several articles and books on geometry. He also taught at the university. Charles loved writing poetry, and his stories of Alice have many of his poems.

The actual opening of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" written in 1865 is:
"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'"

Answer: Fahrenheit 451

The actual opening from Ray Bradbury's story "Fahrenheit 451", written in 1954, is: "It was a pleasure to burn."

How ironic that Bradbury's book about censorship would be censored in some schools when he refused to "clean up" some of the incidents in the book. Bradbury said "Do not insult me with the beheadings, finger-choppings or the lung-deflations you plan for my works. I need my head to shake or nod, my hand to wave or make into a fist, my lungs to shout or whisper with. I will not go gently onto a shelf, degutted, to become a non-book."