Lit. 101 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Virgil

"The Aeneid" is an epic poem written by Virgil somewhere between 29 and 19 BC. It was written in Latin and tells the story of Aeneas, who went from Troy to Italy and became the progenitor of the Romans; it has all the elements of a modern day Lifetime movie: sex, violence, betrayal and tragedy. Virgil was born Publius Vergilius Maro in 70 B.C. in northern Italy and was known as the greatest poet of the Roman Empire.

He wanted "The Aeneid" to be burned but Augustus arranged for the manuscript to be published.

Answer: Dulcinea

Miguel de Cervantes' classic tragicomedy was published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615; the full title is "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha". It is the story of a man obsessed with the chivalrous deeds he has read about in books who decides to take sword in hand and go out into the world to defend the helpless and defeat the wicked - all in the name of Dulcinea del Toboso.

The novel details the adventures of Don Quixote and his sidekick, Sancho Panza, as they attack imaginary enemies.

The novel is a study in contrasts, both physical and moral, and delves into the very nature of sanity.

Answer: Tom Jones

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) began his career as a playwright of operas and light comedies until one of his satirical plays angered the government, which passed the Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737, forcing Fielding to go from playwright to journalist and novelist. "The History of Tom Jones", published in 1749, is one of the earliest prose works to be described as a novel and many critics consider it to be one of the great comic novels of all time.

It is the erotic story of an orphan (raised by the wealthy landowner Squire Allworthy) who grows up to be a lusty man.

In 1963 it was made into a movie starring Albert Finney.

Answer: The Prince and the Pauper

"The Prince and the Pauper" was written by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910), an American humorist, and was published in 1881. It tells the story of Edward, the Prince of Wales, who changes places with Tom, a poor London street urchin. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English novelist of the Victorian period who created some of the greatest fictional characters of all time, including Oliver Twist, Ebenezer Scrooge, Madame Defarge and Pip.

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

"Murders in the Rue Morgue" was a short story published in 1841. The protagonist is C. Auguste Dupin who investigates the mystery of the brutal murders of two women in Paris. Poe's detective, Dupin, set the standard for many of the literary devices used by such characters as Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot. Dupin reappears in Poe's subsequent stories "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Purloined Letter".

In fact, the annual awards given out by the Mystery Writers of America are called the Edgar Awards to honor Poe.

Although Poe (1809-1849) did not have a happy life, he was a master of the macabre and changed the world of literature by creating a whole new genre.

Answer: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist who created such masterpieces as "Notes from Underground", an 1864 novella, "Crime and Punishment" in 1866 and "The Idiot" in 1869. "The Brothers Karamazov", written shortly before Dostoyevsky died, is the story of Fyodor Karamazov, an extremely unlikeable person, and his relationships (or lack thereof) with his sons: the spoiled Dimitri, the tortured Ivan and the spiritual Aloysha.

It deals with politics, religion, infidelity, faith and the entire human condition. To quote from the novel itself, Dostoyevsky asks: "What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love".

Answer: Profiles in Courage

Before he became President, Senator Kennedy penned "Profiles in Courage", containing short biographies of the bravery and integrity of eight U.S. Senators: John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Lamar, George Norris and Robert A. Taft.

The book was released in 1956, became a best seller and won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1957, although there was controversy with regard to who actually wrote it, John Kennedy or Ted Sorenson. The incorrect choices were also written by US Presidents: "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama, "An Hour Before Daylight" by Jimmy Carter and "A Charge To Keep" by George W. Bush.

Answer: In Cold Blood

While all the choices above were written by Truman Capote (born Truman Strekfus Persons) (1924-1984), "In Cold Blood", which Capote called a non-fiction novel, was about the real murder of an entire Kansas family. It certainly was in sharp contrast to the much lighter tone of "Breakfast At Tiffany's" from 1958. Truman taught himself to read and write and, in 1933 moved to NYC with his mother and step-father Joseph Capote (who was later jailed for embezzlement).

The book "In Cold Blood", was made into a movie in 1967, starring Robert Blake (who, ironically, years later was charged with the murder of his wife).

Answer: Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was born as Marguerite Ann Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. This multi-faceted woman is a poet, essayist, autobiographer, singer, dancer, writer, director, producer and Civil Rights activist, etc. All this has been achieved despite a childhood filled with unspeakable tragedy; in fact Ms. Angelou became mute for almost five years during which she developed her love of literature and her ability to listen and observe.

In 1993 she became the first poet, since Robert Frost in 1961, to speak at a Presidential Inauguration (for President Clinton) where she recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning".

In 2011 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Answer: The Tipping Point

"The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" is described by Gladwell as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point," i.e., the point at which things change, for better or worse, and the cause of those changes. He gives examples as disparate as the rise in sales of Hush-Puppies shoes and the decline in the New York City crime rate after 1990.

He credits the city's zero tolerance for minor crimes like fare-beating and vandalism with leading to a drop in the more violent crimes.

Although it may sound dry, it is actually a fascinating study that causes you to look at events in a whole different light.