Novels of the 1940s Trivia Quiz

Answer: How Green Was My Valley

Llewellyn was born in England and spent very little time in Wales. He did his research through associations with people from that area. The book was followed by three sequels, none as successful as the original.

In 1941 it was made into a powerful motion picture with Roddy McDowell playing the endearing child Hew. The film won three major Academy Awards: Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp); and Best Director (John Ford).

Answer: For Whom the Bell Tolls

The title is taken from the works of John Donne and probably sums up Hemingway's approach to life and death.

"No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee."

Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for "The Old Man And the Sea" in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in 1954 for lifetime achievement in literature.

Answer: Song of Bernadette

Some of the events in the book may have been created for dramatic effect as Werfel did much of his research with oral histories of persons who knew Bernadette. Bernadette reported eighteen visions of the Mother Mary. She lived out her life as a nun. The apparition she saw is called "Our Lady of Lourdes" and Lourdes is considered a holy and healing place by believers. Bernadette was canonized as a saint in 1933.

Answer: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Smith used her own experience as a coming-of-age child in Brooklyn to line her novel with a struggling mother, a mostly unemployed and alcoholic father, a little brother, and the fabulous Aunt Sissy with her affairs and lovers.

Answer: Amber

"Forever Amber" was banned in fourteen states, hence the phase 'banned in Boston'. The banning increased curiosity about the book, as well as sales. The book sold three million copies during the 1940s, and is believed to be the best seller of the decade. Kathleen Windsor, the author, became an instant celebrity. Her other books that followed never had the magic of 'Amber'.

Answer: The Robe

Douglas resigned from the ministry at fifty-two to try his hand at writing. In a fan letter he received the writer pondered as to what happened to Jesus' clothes after the Crucifixion which spawned the novel.

Answer: Conditions in mental hospitals

The book jacket of "The Snake Pit" contain this statement: "Long ago men tried to shock the insane back into sanity by throwing them into a snake pit--a drastic treatment which by its sudden terror was sometimes successful. Modern methods, though superficially more civilized, often rely on the same brutal shock to achieve their results."

As a result of this book and the film adaptation that followed, many states in the US, and some other countries, began to review their treatment of the mentally ill. New laws and more modern methods were developed during the ensuing years, spurred by "The Snake Pit".

Answer: Antisemitism

A staff writer at a major news magazine is assigned to write a piece on antisemitism. In order to do his research, he poses as a Jew and finds that his life changes by people's perceptions of him. The ruse deeply affects both his social climbing fiance and his son at school.

Answer: The Naked and the Dead

Mailer was drafted in 1943 but was a cook and did not see combat. But he had a sharp eye and ear for detail. Later he was to win the Pulitzer for "Executioner's Song" in 1980.

The novel questions the competence and integrity of officers and the seemly lack of compassion. The enlisted men are deviled not only by their commanders and the Japanese but their own personal issues.

Answer: The Egyptian

Waltari wrote a play on the subject in 1938 but did not finish the novel until 1945. It has been translated into forty languages. He tried to make the depiction of life in ancient Egypt as accurate as possible while retaining some dramatic license. The central character is a physician who survives the rigors of the times.

There are graphic details of brain surgery. Analogies have been made between the events in the novel and the advent of World War Two.