Literary Haiku Trivia Quiz

Answer: Catcher In the Rye

'Catcher In the Rye' was written by notorious recluse J.D. Salinger. In this, his most famous work, the narrator Holden Caulfield relates how he was expelled from his prep school and makes his way home to New York City without telling his parents. Phoebe is his beloved sister. Holden's got issues with society, seeing everyone as sell-outs and phonies.

'The Chocolate War' is about a teen's confrontation with a gang in high school; it was written by that master of pessimistic youth fiction, Robert Cormier. 'The Lords Of Discipline' is about four friends at a military institute and was written by Pat Conroy. 'Decline And Fall' is a satire of English manners, following the misadventures of a man who is expelled from Oxford; it is by Evelyn Waugh.

Answer: Catch-22

'Catch-22' is possibly the greatest work of fiction to come out of WWII. Alternately hilarious and horrifying, it captures the absurdity of war, mostly seen through the eyes of its protagonist Yossarian. Who can forget Chief Half Oat, Major ______ de Coverley, Milo Minderbinder, and of course the hapless Major Major Major Major? It is unquestionably Joseph Heller's greatest work.

'Fortunate Son' is not fiction, but the true story of Lewis Puller. The son of the only Marine to win five Navy Crosses, Puller Jr. went to the Vietnam War as a matter of course, lost his legs and some of his hands, became a lawyer, ran for Congress, and overcame alcoholism. 'Slaughterhouse-Five' is perhaps Kurt Vonnegut's best-known work; it is also an absurdist, harrowing tale of war. Its protagonist Billy Pilgrim, who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden, believes he can travel through time. 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is a novel of the Spanish Civil War, written by Ernest Hemingway, and focuses on a mission to blow up a bridge.

Answer: Frankenstein

'Frankenstein,' by Mary Shelley, is one of the first horror novels. Its protagonist, the young doctor Victor Frankenstein, creates a "man" (eight feet tall, and out of corpse parts), but is horrified when the creature demands a bride. Two things people who have not read this book don't know are: the creature has no name, and it can talk - in fact, it's particularly eloquent.

'Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde,' written by Robert Louis Stevenson, is the story of a kindly doctor who creates a formula that isolates a person's "evil" nature. When the doctor experiments with it upon himself, he turns into the amoral Mr. Hyde. 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' is a novel by Ray Bradbury in which two boys visit an evil carnival. "The Monkey's Paw" is a short story about an object that grants three wishes, but fills them in an ironically unfortunate way. It was written by W.W. Jacobs.

Answer: Emma

'Emma' is one of Jane Austen's funniest books. Emma is a sympathetic, though clueless, heroine. Austen's florid language is a joy to read, as is her sly use of foreshadowing and hints to let the reader know what's really going on in the characters' hearts, behind all that stilted, proper behavior.

'Great Expectations' is by Charles Dickens. Its hero, Pip, believes himself to be the inheritor of an elderly woman's fortune, but life doesn't work out the way he thinks it will. 'Jane Eyre,' by Charlotte Bronte, tells the tale of an orphan girl who becomes a governess. 'Little Women' is an episodic novel about four sisters growing up during the Civil War. It was written by Louisa May Alcott.

Answer: Ivanhoe

'Ivanhoe,' one of the first deliberately historical adventure novels, was written by Sir Walter Scott. The titular hero is wounded in a tournament early in the book, and lies recuperating until nearly the end. Meanwhile, Robin of Loxley and the Black Sluggard (who is actually King Richard returned) fight for Ivanhoe's interests. It's a pretty engaging story, but unfortunately rather anti-Semitic in tone.

'The Black Arrow' is an adventure story by Robert Louis Stevenson, about a group of outlaws during the Wars of the Roses. 'The Door In the Wall' is a Newbery award-winning book about a boy named Robin who loses the use of his legs. It was written by Marguerite de Angeli. 'The Once And Future King' is an epic fantasy about King Arthur, Merlin and Lancelot, written by T.H. White.

Answer: Moby-Dick

'Moby-Dick,' by Herman Melville, is a true American masterpiece. It has a little of everything: spirituality, poetry, natural history, broad humor, tragedy, philosophy, and adventure. The haiku I wrote is loosely rendered from a speech Ahab makes late in the book: "Ye see an old man cut down to the stump; leaning on a shivered lance; propped up on a lonely foot. 'Tis Ahab - his body's part; but Ahab's soul's a centipede, that moves upon a hundred legs. I feel strained, half stranded, as ropes that tow dismasted frigates in a gale; and I may look so. But ere I break, ye'll hear me crack; and till ye hear that, know that Ahab's hawser tows his purpose yet."

'The Old Man And the Sea' is a fishing story by Ernest Hemingway. 'Three Men In a Boat,' by Jerome K. Jerome, is a humorous novel about three friends who take a boating holiday down the Thames. 'Master And Commander' is the first Aubrey-Maturin book by Patrick O'Brian.

Answer: 1984

'1984' was written by George Orwell. The "boy and girl" of the haiku are Winston Smith and Julia, who sleep with one another and talk of freedom. Winston and Julia are captured and "re-educated." There is not a happy ending.

'Anthem,' written by Ayn Rand, is a similar book, taking place in a dystopia in which freedom is discouraged. However, its protagonist, Equality, finds love and manages to escape the overpowering state. 'A Clockwork Orange,' by Anthony Burgess, is set during an uncertain future. It follows the career of a thug named Alex and the attempts of society to cure his violent tendencies. 'The Giver' is a novel by Lois Lowry; it won the Newbery. It too involves a supposedly Utopian future which actually costs the people their freedom.

Answer: Treasure Island

In Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Jim Hawkins sees the one-legged Long John Silver, the ship's cook, as a friend. But Silver announces his plans to get his former captain's treasure for himself, so along with a handful of adults, Jim fights the pirates on the island. Exciting stuff.

Answer: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

"Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" is a play by Edward Albee that takes place during a long night of drinking, insults and cruel mind games between the emasculated George, a university professor, and his harridan wife, and between the new professor and his wife who get embroiled in their arguments.

"The American Dream" is another play by Albee, ALSO about a horribly dysfunctional married couple. It's a pitch-black "comedy" that exposes and condemns the nasty underbelly of American middle class life, represented by a timorous "Daddy," and a vacuous, vicious "Mommy," and the consequences their cruelty has on their child. "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" is a play by Tennessee Williams, also about a married couple with a tumultuous relationship, but their names are Maggie and Brick. 'The Lost Weekend' is a novel by Charles Jackson about a writer who drinks bad memories away.

Answer: The Call of the Wild

'The Call of the Wild,' by Jack London, is the story of Buck, a huge mixed breed dog who is stolen from his family and forced to work as a sled dog up north, until he's rescued by a trapper, but he continues to grow more wild.

'White Fang' is a another book by Jack London that explores the opposite theme: a wolf cub is tamed into civilization. 'Sounder' is a Newbery award-winning book by William Armstrong. It's a very bleak look at a poor black sharecropper's son in the 1930s, his hunting dog, and the injustice his family suffers. "To the Man On the Trail" is a short story by London, again, about a group of trappers who listen to a fellow trapper's tale of how he came to be on the run from the police.