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Russian Prose Trivia Quiz

From Pushkin over Dostoevsky and Tolstoy to more recent authors. How well do you know the highlights of Russian prose?

A multiple-choice quiz by queenofsheba. Estimated time: 4 mins.

Author
queenofsheba

Time
4 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
240,495

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
10 / 15

Plays
723

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. In Aleksandr Pushkin's short story "Queen of Spades" there's a woman who gets killed. What secret did she conceal? Hint

She used a false identity.

She was secretly married.

She knew a method to win every card game.

She knew who killed her brother.

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Question 2 of 15

2. At the end of Mikhail Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time", the "hero" Pechorin holds a gun against his head and pulls the trigger. What happens? Hint

The gun is loaded and he dies.

The gun is loaded, but doesn't go off.

The gun is unloaded.

It isn't a real gun.

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Question 3 of 15

3. Ivan Turgenev wrote the novel "Home of the Gentry" (other translation: "A Nest of Nobles"). In this story Lavretsky falls in love with Liza. How does it end? Hint

They flee to France.

He accidently kills her.

She marries an other man.

She decides to become a nun.

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Question 4 of 15

4. Nikolai Gogol wrote the novel "Dead Souls". What are dead souls? Hint

people with a meaningless life

ghosts from murdered children

prisoners in Siberia

dead serfs

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Question 5 of 15

5. Which Shakespeare character appears in a title of Nikolai Leskov? Hint

Romeo

Ophelia

King Lear

Lady Macbeth

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Question 6 of 15

6. Ivan Goncharov wrote the novel "Oblomov". Where does the title character spend most of his time? Hint

in a gambling house

in bed

in prison

on his farmland

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Question 7 of 15

7. In Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", how does the police find out that Raskolnikov is the killer? Hint

His girlfriend gives him away.

They find the weapon in his apartment.

They find his fingerprints on the corpse.

He turns himself in.

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Question 8 of 15

8. Which Dostoevsky novel contains the story of the Grand Inquisitor? Hint

The Eternal Husband

The Brothers Karamazov

The Village of Stepanchikovo

The Idiot

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Question 9 of 15

9. Which historical character appears in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace"? Hint

Catherine the Great

Ivan the Terrible

Napoleon Bonaparte

Peter the Great

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Question 10 of 15

10. Vronsky is a character in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. What's not true about him? Hint

He's an army officer.

He impregnates Anna.

Kitty feels attracted to him.

He cheats on his wife.

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Question 11 of 15

11. Who wrote the short story "The Lady with the Dog"? Hint

Maxim Gorki

Boris Pasternak

Fyodor Gladkov

Anton Chekhov

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Question 12 of 15

12. His real name was Aleksei Maximovich Peshkov, but he used the pseudonym Maxim Gorki. What does "gorki" mean? Hint

the homeless one

the black one

the poor one

the bitter one

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Question 13 of 15

13. Which character in Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarite" is really Satan? Hint

Azazello

the master

Woland

Margarita

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Question 14 of 15

14. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". Who's Ivan Denisovich? Hint

a prisoner

a monk

a faithful husband

a music teacher

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Question 15 of 15

15. In what language did Vladimir Nabokov write "Lolita"? Hint

English

Spanish

French

Russian

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In Aleksandr Pushkin's short story "Queen of Spades" there's a woman who gets killed. What secret did she conceal?

Answer: She knew a method to win every card game.

She had a trick to always produce four jacks when needed. At the end the killer produces three jacks, but the fourth card is a queen of spades, with the face of the old woman. It's also an opera by Tchaikovsky.

2. At the end of Mikhail Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time", the "hero" Pechorin holds a gun against his head and pulls the trigger. What happens?

Answer: The gun is loaded, but doesn't go off.

It was a bet: pull the trigger without checking if the gun is loaded.

3. Ivan Turgenev wrote the novel "Home of the Gentry" (other translation: "A Nest of Nobles"). In this story Lavretsky falls in love with Liza. How does it end?

Answer: She decides to become a nun.

She often talked about her religious feelings and finally entered the monastery.

4. Nikolai Gogol wrote the novel "Dead Souls". What are dead souls?

Answer: dead serfs

A landowner was judged on the number of serfs he owned: the wealthier, the more serfs. Chichikov decided to buy dead serfs who were still registered, to make people believe he was rich.

5. Which Shakespeare character appears in a title of Nikolai Leskov?

Answer: Lady Macbeth

In "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" a woman commits adultery and kills her father-in-law.

6. Ivan Goncharov wrote the novel "Oblomov". Where does the title character spend most of his time?

Answer: in bed

He's an antihero. All he wants is to lie in bed, to eat and drink well and to be left alone.

7. In Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", how does the police find out that Raskolnikov is the killer?

Answer: He turns himself in.

Dostoevsky developed a philosophy of the human conscience. Raskolnikov's girlfriend convinces him to turn himself in.

8. Which Dostoevsky novel contains the story of the Grand Inquisitor?

Answer: The Brothers Karamazov

Ivan Karamazov wrote about the Grand Inquisitor, who told Jesus that the church doesn't need him anymore.

9. Which historical character appears in Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace"?

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

It's a historical novel about 1812, when the Russians defeated Napoleon. Tolstoy's idea is that one person can't change the course of history.

10. Vronsky is a character in Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. What's not true about him?

Answer: He cheats on his wife.

He wasn't married.

11. Who wrote the short story "The Lady with the Dog"?

Answer: Anton Chekhov

Chekhov is best known as a playwright, but he also wrote a lot of short stories. "The Lady with the Dog" is another story about adultery, but this time the woman chooses to divorce.

12. His real name was Aleksei Maximovich Peshkov, but he used the pseudonym Maxim Gorki. What does "gorki" mean?

Answer: the bitter one

The use of pseudonyms was popular among Russian poets in the twentieth century. "The homeless one" is Bezdomny, a character in Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita".

13. Which character in Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarite" is really Satan?

Answer: Woland

When the master visits Bezdomny in the hospital, he explains that Woland is Satan.

14. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". Who's Ivan Denisovich?

Answer: a prisoner

It's a protest against the situation in the prisons and labor camps of the Soviet Union. Solzhenitsyn used to be a prisoner himself.

15. In what language did Vladimir Nabokov write "Lolita"?

Answer: English

He was born in Russia and wrote a lot in Russian. Later he migrated to Europe and finally to the United States, where he started writing in English. "Lolita" is about the controversial relation between an adult man and a teenage girl.

Source: Author queenofsheba

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