Novelist Walks Into A Bar... Trivia Quiz

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nick Carraway is the narrator of F. Scott's Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (1925). Nick represents Mr Everyman from the Mid-West, who chronicles the excesses of the wealthy in the novel and exposes the fraud that lies underneath, The only problem is, Nick is an unreliable author...

Fitzgerald's novel is the quintessential Jazz Age/Roaring Twenties American novel. It chronicles the twenties as Steinbeck did for the thirties in his 1939 novel "The Grapes of Wrath".

Answer: Harper Lee

Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch are probably three of the best drawn characters in America Literature, found in Harper Lee's 1960 novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". One of the more remarkable aspects is that the entire novel is seen through the eyes of a six year old girl and yet the reader feels the full range of emotions as we interpret what she sees.

One aspect that does not gather much attention is Mr Dolphus Raymond who drinks coca-cola from a bottle in a paper bag. He is known as the town drunk, and he explains to Dill and Scout when he lets them taste his soft drink, that he has to give some reason for his different behavior (that is, being friendly with black people). He explains it's easier for people to handle strangeness when it can be explained. He therefore pretends to be a drunk. While this is not the main racial tension theme in the book it underlines the segregation within the town.

Answer: Mr Brown

Dan Brown had successful books before 2003's "The Da Vinci Code". "Angels and Demons", Mr Brown's previous novel from 2000, introduced Robert Langdon (based on the very real John Landon and on Brown himself), who is a Harvard history professor and "symbologist". "The Da Vinci Code" introduces cryptologist Sophie Neveu; together they work to solve a murder that occurred the Louvre Museum in Paris. Mr Brown's Robert Langdon has appeared in subsequent novels, including "The Lost Symbol" (2009), "Inferno" (2013), and "Origin" (2017).

In between the span of these novels, Mr Brown has written six non-ficton books on symbols.

Answer: George Orwell

"Nineteen Eighty-Four" was a 1949 George Orwell dystopian novel that painted the world as being at perpetual war, with overwhelming government surveillance and deliberate use of propaganda. Winston Smith was meant to represent the common man, and we identify with the hardships of the life he had led. For example, his job was to re-write history to ensure that it conformed to the will of the overarching government. In the end, while Winston is 'spared' the relief of death, he realised he had been brainwashed.

This was a very powerful novel. Any book which has an opening like "It was a bright cold day in April,and the clocks were striking thirteen" had you hooked from the very first page.

Answer: Piggy

Each of the central characters in Mr Golding's "Lord of The Flies" represents a different part of society. Simon is the saint and the martyr, and he dies early in the descent into chaos. Ralph represents the civilised society: he lives by defined rules, acts peacefully, follows his own moral compass and places trust in the collective good of the group. Jack is the opposite. He represents the chaos that ensues when civilisation is marginalised. It takes him a while, but Jack becomes the dictator who enjoys adoration from his subordinates and rules over them by terror.

Piggy represents rationalism and intellect: Piggy suggested rounding up the scattered boys; he is the one who suggests the utility of the conch cell; he is the one that suggest a smoke-fire on the beach rather than a fire on the headland, risking a forest fire. When his glasses are broken, this is the end of hope: without the glasses as a magnifying glass, they boys can no longer make fire. More figuratively, it was Piggy who could articulate what had to be practically done on the island; without glasses his insight was lost. Coupled with his heftiness, he was soon on the outer and eventually killed. Piggy was a modern day Shakespearean tragedy protagonist.

Answer: Triffid

John Wyndham wrote the post-apocalyptic novel called "Day of the Triffids" in 1951, right in the middle of the cold war. The causes of the "meteor shower" and how the triffids were able to move were left deliberately vague, giving an eerie sense of plausibility about the novel. The triffids' 'sting in the tail' was a stinger that could unfurl like a massive tongue and blind a person permanently with its whip-like appendage. Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov, both sci-fi royalty, collectively praised this book, considering it to be "one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time". Its parallels with Verne's "War of the Worlds" is deliberate.

Who would have thought a plant could be a literary star?

Answer: Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen King

Anthropomorphic computers were more a staple of fantasy than Sci-Fi in 1968 when Arthur C. Clarke wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey". This brilliant novel, through its computer, showed the magnitude of human failings when HAL the computer was programmed to lie, jeopardising the whole mission. Dave the Astronaut had to 'kill' the computer by disconnection. HAL's last words struck a cord with all of us.

"Good afternoon... gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000... computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois... on the 12th of January 1992. [voice becomes even lower & slower] My instructor was Mr. Langley... and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you".

The 1958 red and white Plymouth was "Christine". Only Stephen King could make a car with human-menacing qualities seem plausible. Mr King does not seem so keen to meet Christine, though. He has spied Mr Golding in the room, one of his idols; many of Stephen King's themes emanate from those of "Lord of the Flies". Mr King's pseudonym Richard Bachman's "The Long Walk" has obvious parallels. Castle Rock, the favoured fictional Maine town where so many King stories are set, is a name straight out of "Lord of the Flies".

Mr King wrote a new introduction to a commemorative edition of Mr Golding's novel as part of celebrations in 2011 to mark 100 years since Golding's birth.

Answer: David Copperfield

"David Copperfield" (1858) was Charles Dickens' eighth novel and contained many autobiographical elements, starting with the same initials as the author (inverted). Copperfields's employment at Murdstone and Grinby's is lifted from Dickens's own negative experiences working at Warren's Blacking Factory when he was poor before becoming an author. Mr Copperfield's proffered love for Dora Spenlow is directly related to Mr Dickens's preoccupation with Maria Beadnell.

Mr Dickens's parents are represented in the novel. Both his father and the character Mr. Micawber went to prison for debt. Mr. Dick, a character who has a good heart but is ineffective, represents another incarnation of Dickens's father. Copperfield's attractive young mother, was inspired by Dickens's mother.

Mr Dickens is arguably the most respected British author after Shakespeare. The literary value of "David Copperfield" underlines his stature in this field.

Answer: George Orwell

George Orwell, by using animals, particularly pigs, in "Animal Farm" (1945) to demonstrate the corruption of power, created one of the greatest works of literature of all time. Napoleon the pig is modelled on Stalin, though he represents most of the tyrant leaders known at that time in political history. Napoleon takes over "Animal Farm" ostensibly for the better welfare of the animals, but he is an utterly corrupt opportunist.

He demonstrates no interest in the farm itself, just in his power over it.

He makes not one contribution to the revolution, not to the formulation of its ideology, not to the violent struggle that eventuates, not to the new farm's claim to establish itself. He relies on others, like Squealer, to spread his propaganda to ensure he has control. I doubt even if his creator could talk to him. Mr Orwell may be proud of the character he has drawn but not of his actions. Napoleon could care less.

Answer: Chief Bromden

Chief Bromden is a very tall native American who lives in an Oregon psychiatric Facility in 1969. He is the narrator of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". He witnessed Randle McMurphy being admitted to the unit to avoid hard jail time, and saw how he did more for the inmates than Nurse Ratched ever did. Nurse Ratched was one of the most evil characters in literature.

She manipulated and coerced the men in the ward, and delighted in the control she had over them. McMurphy had the better of her at the start of his confinement, but she broke him like all the other men and it was because the Chief could see what Randle McMurphy could do, that he was prompted to speak for the first time in a very long time to McMurphy.

When McMurphy was broken, this prompted Chief Bromden to escape the evil of the hospital.