The Right to Write Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vladimir Nabokov

"Lolita" was published in 1955, and it was a controversial work from the moment it appeared. Nabokov wrote the tale of Humbert Humbert, who marries a tragic widow because he is fascinated by her young daughter, Dolores. When Humbert's wife dies in a freak accident, Humbert assumes the role of step-father and lover to the titular 12-year-old "nymphet", whom he has nicknamed "Lolita". Nabokov wrote two versions of Lolita, the first in English, and the second in his native language (Russian). Both were received with shock and admiration, and though the two versions are similar, they are not exactly the same.

Despite the controversy surrounding the subject matter, the novel is considered by most critics to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.

Answer: Henrik Ibsen

Ibsen's play, "A Doll's House", which questioned 19th century marriage in Europe from the point of view of a woman's ability to live her own life, is considered by some to be the foundation for modern feminism. The play was controversial from the moment it was first performed.

The final image of the protagonist slamming the door as she leaves her husband and children to find herself has reverberated around the world.

Answer: Suzanne Collins

Not since J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" caused a flurry of censorship due to the "negative portrayal of whites" and too much sexual and vulgar content, has a book (or in this case) a series of books caused so much controversy among the parents of teenaged readers. "The Hunger Games" was the third most banned series of books in the US by the time the third novel in the series was published. Admittedly, the post-apocalyptic world in which civilization is split into thirteen districts, which must send adolescents to fight to the death every year as a distraction from the real economic and political ills of the government, is a strange and heavy setting for books aimed at young readers. Nonetheless, the political atmosphere in the United States in 2016 and 2017 also presented a view of politics very different from anything that had been seen up to that time. Holden Caulfield of Salinger's book and Katniss Everdeen of Collins' trilogy both struck a chord among the youth of their respective generations, and one that no amount of parental opposition could squash.

Answer: Salman Rushdie

Rushdie's novel was first published in 1988, and according to some Islamic scholars, it was an attack on Muslims and their beliefs. The uproar caused by the novel was such that author Rushdie had to go into hiding because of death threats against him. Those who read the book with an open mind cannot find much to object to, however.

In fact, it is rather slow-going in terms of plot and style. Time will tell whether the novel retains its volatile position with regard to its stand on Islam.

Answer: John Green

This book, which was made into an immensely popular movie a couple of years after its publication in 2012, deals with adolescents dying of cancer. The seriousness of the theme, along with the profane language used and some of the topics broached, caused the book to be banned in some school districts in the United States. Most critics loved the book, in its realistic treatment of a 16-year-old girl and how she faces her own mortality as well as the normal exploration of life and love.

Other critics found it mawkish and forced, and called the genre of literature that it belonged to "teen sick-lit".

Answer: Judy Blume

Blume's novel exploring teen sexuality was published in 1975. Critics initially dubbed it "teen porn", and many wanted it to be taken from the shelves of public libraries in addition to being removed from high school reading lists. In fact, "Forever" is on the list of the 100 most challenged books, coming in at number seven for 1990-2000. Today, the plot seems rather lame: two high school seniors fall in love, and contemplate having sex as a practical matter more than a moral issue.

After being thwarted in their initial attempts, they are able to consummate the relationship.

Initially, they believe that it will last forever, but it doesn't.

Answer: Truman Capote

"In Cold Blood" was groundbreaking in that it presented the facts of a brutal real-life crime as if it were fiction, inventing conversations and motivations and making the events all the more real for readers. It was the first "true crime" book, and it was written by a gifted author who was meticulous in his research, but didn't back off from changing details to make the story better. Because of the factual nature of the crime on which "In Cold Blood" was based, and the graphic nature of the description of the crime, the book has been banned at different times.

Answer: Margaret Mitchell

It may be surprising that "Gone With the Wind", which was the only completed novel by Margeret Mitchell, and which was published in 1936 and made into one of the most revered movies in Hollywood history in 1939, is actually a book that has been banned by school districts, due to its depiction of blacks under slavery in the South, and the "immorality' of Scarlett O'Hara, the book's protagonist. Though many people love the story of the changes of the Southern states in the US before, during and after the Civil War, there are others that react equally as strongly with a rejection of the premise and of the leading characters in the novel.

It will be interesting to see how the novel is viewed in the year 3000.

Answer: Charles Perrault

Though many have grown up with the story of Red Riding Hood's escape from the "big bad wolf" and are familiar with the more politically correct Disney version of the story, California schools originally banned it because of the fact that the young girl was taking wine to her grandmother, because the wolf was in the grandmother's bed when he fooled the little girl into thinking that he was her grandmother, and the implications of the wolf being in bed with the grandmother and then with the girl before being killed by the woodsman.

Answer: Louise Fitzhugh

Though this story is loved by many young girls, it was originally banned because it supposedly encouraged children to lie about each other, to keep secrets and to spy on each other. I wonder, if the protagonist had been a boy, whether the backlash would have been as great. All I can say is that I loved those black and white speckled notebooks with the sewn bindings, and that a few of my diaries as a child were written in them, based on my admiration of Harriet.