Ten Books in Search of an Author Quiz

Answer: Thomas Hardy

'Far from the Madding Crowd' was Thomas Hardy's fourth published novel, the second set in the fictional region of Wessex (located somewhere in southwest England) and his first major success. The central character in the novel is Bathsheba Everdene, a beauty who attracts a series of men who differ greatly in character. The first we meet is the shepherd Gabriel Oak, a man as solid and reliable as his name suggests. When he proposes marriage, Bathsheba turns him down, as he is too old and unexciting for her. She considers the wealthy farmer William Boldwood, before falling for the dashing Sergeant Frank Troy. Big mistake, as he is not only a gambler, but also in love with Bathsheba's former servant Fanny, who is pregnant with his child. The death of his former fiancee while giving birth to their child makes him realise how little he loves Bathsheba and he leaves. A year later, Bathsheba agrees to marry Boldwood (in another six years, when Troy will have been gone long enough to be declared legally dead) when Troy returns. When he tries to force Bathsheba to come with him, Boldwood kills him and is then convicted of murder. This leaves Bathsheba free to realise, finally, that Gabriel Oak is the only real friend she has ever had, and they marry.

The 1967 movie directed by John Schlesinger starred Julie Christie as Bathsheba, Terence Stamp as Troy, Peter Finch as Boldwood, and Alan Bates as Oak. It followed the book quite closely, although it did not evoke the same sense of the characters being isolated from the larger society of Victorian England, confined by the small town society in which they lived.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) primarily considered himself a poet, but achieved fame first from his novels. His writings all tended to idealise the rural life that he saw disappearing, and highlight the constraints that society places on individual freedoms. His first novel, 'The Poor Man and the Lady' (1867) was never published, and the manuscript subsequently destroyed. His first published novel was 'Desperate Remedies' (1871), followed closely by 'Under the Greenwood Tree' (1872), both published anonymously. 'A Pair of Blue Eyes' (1873) was inspired by his courtship of Emma Gifford, who married him in 1874. A series of successful novels followed the publication of 'Far from the Madding Crowd' in 1874, but the critical response to 'Jude the Obscure' in 1895 led to Hardy largely turning his writing efforts to poetry. When he died, he wanted to be buried next to his first wife, but the executor of his estate insisted that he should be interred in Poets' Corner; a compromise was reached, with his heart in Stinsford and his ashes in Westminster Abbey.

Answer: D.H. Lawrence

This sequel to 'The Rainbow' (1915) was first published in 1920, but only to subscribers, due to the controversy over the sexual content of the earlier novel. Controversy over sexual content was to be a hallmark of Lawrence's writing, with a number of his books being considered as pornography when they were first published. Subsequent critiques are more attuned to the serious analysis of human motivation and the development of relationships, but Lawrence's sense that sex is central cannot be overlooked! 'Women in Love' is sometimes considered a Roman a Clef: the artistic Brangwen sister, Gudrun, is involved in a mutually destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, characters said to be based on Katherine Mansfield and her husband. Schoolteacher Ursula develops a deep loving relationship with Rupert Birkin, an alienated intellectual; these are said to be based on Lawrence and his wife Frieda. What made the novel most controversial is the strong attraction that develops between the two men.

In 1969 Ken Russell directed a film adaptation of 'Women in Love', starring Alan Bates as Rupert Birkin and Oliver Reed as Gerald Crich. Glenda Jackson, who played Gudrun, won an Academy Award for Best Actress, and the film was also nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay - Based on Material from another Medium and Best Cinematography. The film was generally considered to convey the intended feel of Lawrence's novel.

David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930) was the fourth child of a miner father and a mother who had worked in a lace factory to support the family. The tensions between his parents provided obvious background to a number of his novels, especially 'Sons and Lovers' (1913). His work is deeply rooted in the industrial society in which he grew up, and his desire to explore and explain his personal philosophy, which included the importance of the body rather than the mind in experiencing a meaningful life. Because his wife Frieda was German, World War I was an uncomfortable time for Lawrence (and some consider that her ethnic background was a significant reason for the prosecution of his work on obscenity grounds), so they spent a number of years travelling around Europe and Australia before moving to Taos, New Mexico in 1922. They returned to Italy for the final years of his life, and he was living there when he wrote his final, and most notorious, novel, 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'.

Answer: Edith Wharton

'The Age of Innocence', first serialized in 'Pictorial Review' before being published as a book in 1920, won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, under controversial circumstances. The committee had first decided to award the prize to Sinclair Lewis for his novel 'Main Street', but the judges refused to make that award, considering the book to be politically unsound. Edith Wharton thus became the first woman to receive the prize. 'The Age of Innocence' is set in the 1870s, and draws heavily on the author's personal experience as a member of the social elite of New York City at that time. Newland Archer is initially eager to marry the very desirable (in terms of both physical attractiveness and social standing) May Welland, but finds himself disturbingly attracted to her cousin Ellen Olenska, who returns to New York after the end of a scandalous marriage to a Polish count. Ellen's lack of innocence as she defies the strictures of society is in stark contrast to the picture drawn of May, and Newland is smitten, but marries May when Ellen refuses to run away with him. He and Ellen later become lovers, but she goes to Europe just as May tells him that she is pregnant. Newland sacrifices his love for the sake of his child.

In 1993 a film adaptation directed by Martin Scorsese won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. If featured Daniel Day-Lewis as Archer, Michelle Pfeiffer as Ellen, and Winona Ryder as May (a performance that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress). The movie got generally positive reviews, but was not a success at the box office.

Edith Newbold Jones (1862-1937) wrote quite a lot of material as a teenager, but it was not considered seemly to have it published, so she concentrated on the social life around her from the time of her debut in 1879 until after her marriage to Teddy Wharton in 1885. When she then resumed serious writing, she used her married name, and continued to use it even after the couple divorced in 1913. She published her first novel, 'The Valley of Decision' in 1902, at the age of forty. It was the first of fifteen novels, accompanied by seven novellas and 85 short stories. She also wrote extensively on the two major passions of her life - travel (especially to Italy and France) and home design, both interior and garden.

Answer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

'The Hound of the Baskervilles' was the third of the four full-length novels featuring Sherlock Holmes, and the first following his supposed death in the short story 'The Final Solution'. It was first published as a serial in 'The Strand' between August 1901 and April 1902, with each chapter ending in a suitable cliffhanger to encourage purchase of the next issue. The story was apparently inspired by an actual legend, but Doyle elaborated it into a classic tale, incorporating a number of separate but intertwined stories. The death of Sir Charles Baskerville from a heart attack which may or may not have been caused by a legendary demonic hound said to be haunting the family provides the starting point. The arrival of his heir, Henry Baskerville, who scoffs at the legend moves the location to Baskerville Hall and Dartmoor, where the machinations of the villainous Stapleton are eventually revealed.

There have been dozens of adaptations of this story, both for the big screen and as an episode in several television series based on Sherlock Holmes. They have been in multiple languages, some live action and some animated, but the classic version (to me) is the 1939 American film directed by Sidney Lanfield, the first of fourteen films in which Basil Rathbone portrayed Holmes and Nigel Bruce Watson. At the time, the pair were not yet considered a draw card, and top billing went to Richard Greene, who played Henry Baskerville. Unlike earlier adaptations, it kept the story in its original Victorian setting. The same was true for the second Holmes film released in 1939, but not for the later ones - a different studio took up the idea in 1942, and updated the stories to have Holmes fighting Nazis, even while maintaining most of the original plots.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) started life as a medical doctor, but with little success. The publication of 'A Study in Scarlet' (the first Sherlock Holmes novel) in 1887 set him on a new career path as an author. Not only did he write four novels and fifty-six short stories featuring his most famous creation, he also wrote a series of fantasy/scifi stories about Professor Challenger (starting with 'The Lost World' in 1912), and several collections of short stories set in the Napoleonic Wars featuring Brigadier Gerard. His attempt to kill off Holmes was apparently done in order to free his time for more extensive writing in his many other areas of interest.

Answer: Daniel Defoe

To use the original full title, 'The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother) Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent' was first published in 1722 as if it were an autobiography. The attribution to Daniel Defoe (who has earlier used a similar ploy when writing 'Robinson Crusoe') was made nearly forty years after his death. The story is at least partially based on the life of Moll King, whom Defoe met while visiting Newgate Prison. Our 'heroine' is born in prison, then raised by a foster family before being sent out to work in a household where she gets involved with both sons before marrying one. When she is widowed, she leaves her children with the in-laws, and heads out to make her way in the world by attracting a man to take care of her. There ensues a string of more and less fortunate relationships and discoveries about herself and her roots, before things finally work out.

Given the explicitly sexual (sometimes incestuous) nature of the events, it is not surprising that 'Moll Flanders' has not had a lot of adaptations with which players would be familiar. A 1965 film 'The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders' turned it into an historical comedy, with fewer men, none of the multiple children, and no trace of the sub-plot in which Moll discovers that her American husband is actually her half-brother.

Daniel DeFoe (1660?-1731) was a prolific writer, most especially in the production of political pamphlets. His writing was distinctly controversial, and he ended up in prison and being pilloried on multiple occasions. Because he used around 200 known pen names in addition to producing anonymous material, it is not easy to be definitive about what he actually wrote, but there was a lot of it! As a journalist, he helped create the field of economic journalism, and he was one of the early proponents of the development of the novel as a literary form, although he did not publish his first novel ('The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates') until he was in his late 50s.

Answer: Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins wrote this 1868 novel, said to be one of the first examples of a modern detective novel, using narratives from multiple characters to develop the complex plot. Rachel Verinder inherits the eponymous diamond (said to be based on legends surrounding the Hope and Koh-i-Noor diamonds), whose brilliance varies with the phases of the moon, when she turns eighteen. The diamond is stolen on the night of her birthday party, and it is necessary to work out how the theft was managed, by whom, where the stone has been taken, and get it back in order to stop the string of bad luck which follows its disappearance. Don't worry, it all gets sorted, Rachel marries the man she loves, and the diamond is restored to its rightful place, a religious statue in India.

The structure of 'The Moonstone' has lent itself more to radio adaptations than film, although there was a critically-acclaimed version in 1934 starring David Manners as Franklin Blake and Phyllis Barry as Anne (not Rachel) Verinder. The film kept the location in England, but moved the time to the 1930s, and made Inspector Cuff, played by Charles Irwin, into a more significant character.

William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was named after his father, so started using his middle name at an early age. After leaving school, he spent five years working as a clerk, meanwhile getting on with his writing. His first novel, 'Antonina', was published in 1850, and led to his friendship with Charles Dickens, who became a mentor and collaborator, as well as publishing some of Collins's work in his magazines. He became financially secure as an author by 1860, following the publication of 'The Woman in White', another mystery novel. 'The Moonstone' was his last major success; the death of Charles Dickens in 1870 and Collins's increasing dependence on the laudanum he took to treat his gout are both suggested as significant contributors to the decline.

Answer: Virginia Woolf

'To the Lighthouse', published in 1927, is one of those books that everyone has heard of, but few have actually read, somewhat like 'Ulysses', another stream-of-consciousness novel which was published in 1922 by James Joyce. It has little dialogue, and consists mostly of the reflections and observations of the characters, who are not always clearly identified. The novel starts with the Ramsay family and their houseguests on a visit to the Isle of Skye; a visit to the nearby lighthouse is proposed, but does not eventuate. That is about as much action as you get! The second part of the novel, 'Time Passes', idly mentions events of the following ten years, including the deaths of some major characters. The final section is a reunion of sorts, and the trip to the lighthouse finally happens. But the point of the novel is the interaction of experience and experiencer, awareness of oneself and one's surroundings (both physical environment and human companions), not specific events.

The complexity of the novel and its introspective nature make it hardly surprising that the first film adaptation (actually, a made-for-television film) was not made until 1983. It starred Michael Gough and Rosemary Harris as Mr and Mrs Ramsay, Suzanne Bertish as Lily Briscoe (the young painter who finally completes her work despite all her self-doubt), and Kenneth Branagh as Charles Tansley (whose certainty that women cannot write or paint is largely responsible for Lily's self-doubt). 'To the Lighthouse' was nominated for a BAFTA award as Best Single Drama.

Adeline Virginia Stephens (1882-1941) is best known by the surname she took after marrying Leonard Woolf in 1912. The couple were central figures in the intellectual and artistic movement known as the Bloomsbury Group, which wielded significant influence from around 1900 until World War II. The group was characterised by their rejection of many social mores; one description of them, which has been attributed to Dorothy Parker, was that "they lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles." Virginia Woolf is now thought to have been suffering from bipolar disorder, and experienced several instances of collapse requiring medical treatment, starting with the death of her mother when she was thirteen. In 1941 she drowned herself by filling her coat pockets with stones and walking into the river near her house.

Answer: Kenneth Grahame

'The Wind in the Willows' has been a children's favourite since its publication in 1908. We follow the experiences of four central anthropomorphised characters: the home-loving Mole, the chatty Ratty (who is actually a European water vole), the impulsive Mr Toad, and wise old Badger. The major action is created by Toad, whose scapes interrupt the rural idyll of life by the river in Edwardian England. If you don't know the story, do yourself a favour, and find a child who needs to have it read to them. There have been many editions, so you can have your choice of illustrators, including Paul Bransom (the original 1913 edition) and Ernest H. Shepard, of Winnie-the-Pooh fame, in 1931.

In 1929 A A Milne adapted the story for a stage production, 'Toad of Toad Hall'. There would be few amateur groups around the world who have never produced some version of 'The Wind in the Willows' over the years. In Melbourne, 'The Wind in the Willows' was an annual production of the Australian Shakespeare Company's interactive theatre in the park which celebrated its 35th year in 2021. Families bring blankets, and move their seating around the Royal Botanic Gardens to watch the scenes enacted at various locations. If you can't attend a live performance, you should be able to locate one of the many fine versions that has been produced for television.

Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) is best known for 'The Wind in the Willows', but also wrote the short story 'The Reluctant Dragon' (originally published in 1898 as a chapter in 'Dream Days'), which has had similar success in stage and screen adaptations. He worked at the Bank of England from 1879 until his retirement due to ill health (or maybe a quarrel with one of the bank's directors) with a pension sufficient to provide a modest living. It was then that he started creating the bedtime stories for his son which became 'The Wind in the Willows'.

Answer: Sir Walter Scott

'Ivanhoe: A Romance' was first published in 1819 in three separate volumes. The first introduces us to the main characters, including the disinherited Wilfred of Ivanhoe, his beloved Lady Rowena, the Jewish moneylender Isaac and his daughter Rebecca, the Templar knight Brian de Bois-Guilbert. It culminates in a banquet following Ivanhoe's victory at a jousting tourney in which he received serious wounds. The second volume follows the machinations of the Norman knights who wish to take over the Saxon holdings (and their women), finishing with them besieged in the castle. Volume Three sees Robin of Locksley and King Richard triumphing. This book has been credited with largely shaping the perception of the character of Robin Hood, introducing many of the familiar tropes we associate with him. Many aspects of the story are considered historically accurate depictions of the 12th century, but the ongoing enmity between Saxon and Norman is unlikely to have been as strong as depicted over a century after the Norman Conquest in 1066.

The derring-do and costume drama potential means that 'Ivanhoe' has been popular as a basis for adaptations to film and television. The 1952 movie starring Robert Taylor as Ivanhoe, Joan Fontaine as Rowena, Elizabeth Taylor as Rebecca, and George Sanders as de Bois-Guilbert received three Academy Award nominations. In 1958 Roger Moore got his first starring role as Ivanhoe in a British television series that was only loosely based on the book.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a lawyer and judge by day, an historian and author in his spare time. His initial success came from his poetry, including 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel' (1805), a romantic ballad that includes lines that will be familiar to many: "Breathes there a man, with soul so dead, / Who never to himself hath said, / This is my own, my native land!" But he is probably best known now for his historical novels, often called the Waverly novels, based on the title of the first one; 'Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since' was published anonymously in 1814 after being put on hold for nearly ten years. Most of the novels were set in Scotland at a time fairly close to that of writing, but 'Ivanhoe' moved to Yorkshire in England, and was set over 500 years earlier.

Answer: Jules Verne

Originally published in serial form between March 1869 and June 1870, 'Vingt mille lieues sous les mers' was then published in book form in 1871 with illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou. It tells of an expedition in search of a mysterious sea monster who finally track it down and confront the monster, only to discover that it is actually a sophisticated submarine. They are captured by the submarine's creator, Captain Nemo, and forced to accompany him on the Nautilus as they roam the seas in search of scientific knowledge. This is considered one of Jules Verne's best works of science fiction, envisioning as it does aspects of submarines that were technologically many years in the future, along with the creation of the memorable captain, whose fate is unknown at the end of the book (but not to those who have read 'The Mysterious Island'). The novel was first translated into English in 1873, a translation riddled with errors such as the change of the title to have a single sea, when the original French was clearly plural. Many later translations just kept that, so most people use the singular instead of the more correct plural.

This story has been adapted many, many times over the years. Captain Nemo is often portrayed as European, but (as we learn in 'The Mysterious Island') he is more probably East Indian. Walt Disney's 1954 film adaptation had James Mason as a brooding Nemo, made up to be dark-complexioned, a performance which some consider to be the definitive Nemo. The film won two Academy Awards - for Art Direction and for Special Effects - both richly deserved if only for the famous giant squid fight.

Jules Gabriel Verne (1828-1905) is considered a significant figure in French literature, but the English-speaking world considered him to be of much less importance, primarily due to the translations of his work, which were often highly abridged and worded for a young audience. Modern translators are bringing his work to a wider audience. Verne is one of the most translated authors in the world (hard to get precise figures, but he is usually ranked with Shakespeare and Agatha Christie at the top of the list), and is often credited as a 'Father of Science Fiction', a title he shares with such other authors as H G Wells and Hugo Gernsback.