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Twentieth Century Books Trivia Quiz

This quiz deals mostly with European literature in the twentieth century.

A multiple-choice quiz by ijsbek. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
ijsbek

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
353,133

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
868

Last 3 plays: RJOhio (4/10), Guest 81 (2/10), PARTS1 (3/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Michel Tournier's "Friday, or, The Other Island" is a retelling of and philosophical reflection upon which novel? Hint

Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island"

Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island"

William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"

Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe"

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Question 2 of 10

2. Irvine Welsh's novel "Trainspotting" is primarily set in and around which Scottish city? Hint

Glasgow

Dundee

Aberdeen

Edinburgh

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Question 3 of 10

3. What John Kennedy Toole novel was published posthumously in 1980 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize a year later? Hint

A Confederacy of Dunces

A Place to Bury Strangers

The Neon Bible

A Clockwork Orange

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Question 4 of 10

4. What is the name of the fictional island in Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead"? Hint

Anopopei

M�s a Tierra

Pianosa

Kokovoko

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Question 5 of 10

5. The title of Milan Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" refers to which philosopher? Hint

Ludwig Feuerbach

S�ren Kierkegaard

Friedrich Nietzsche

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

6. "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" by Jorge Louis Borges is a short story, written as a literary criticism on a fictional translation of "Don Quixote" by the fictional writer Pierre Menard. What is remarkable about his translation? Hint

It is teeming with spelling errors.

It doesn't use any existing words.

It is absolutely identical to the original work.

It presumes the reader is illiterate.

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Question 7 of 10

7. Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler" offers an exploration into the nature of reading. The uneven chapters are written in a second-person narrative, addressing the reader directly. What is the reader faced with in the even chapters? Hint

Essays on book-printing techniques.

Blank pages

Modern versions of biblical stories

First chapters of various novels

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Question 8 of 10

8. Geoffrey Braithwaite appears as a character in a novel by Julian Barnes. Braithwaite is obsessed by the work and life of Flaubert and spends his time looking for a stuffed animal Flaubert mentioned in one of his short stories ("Un coeur simple" or "A Simple Heart"). What animal does Braithwaite look for? Hint

A mouse

A parrot

A fox

A nightingale

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Question 9 of 10

9. Septimus Smith is a character who suffers from shell shock and jumps out of a window in which of the following novels by Virginia Woolf? Hint

To the Lighthouse

Night and Day

Jacob's Room

Mrs. Dalloway

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Question 10 of 10

10. In a prose poem by Russian dissident Venedikt Yerofeyev (also spelled Erofeev), the main character, Venedict, embarks on an alcohol-soaked journey on a train. The title of the prose poem is the same as the journey; what is it called? Hint

Moscow-Petushki

Moscow-Kirovsk

Moscow-Murmansk

Moscow-Minsk

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Most Recent Scores

Dec 10 2024 : RJOhio: 4/10
Dec 03 2024 : Guest 81: 2/10
Nov 26 2024 : PARTS1: 3/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Michel Tournier's "Friday, or, The Other Island" is a retelling of and philosophical reflection upon which novel?

Answer: Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe"

It is the retelling of Crusoe's shipwreck, put to use to evaluate the different aspects of human life and thought. "Friday, or, The Other Island" won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Acad�mie fran�aise in 1967.

2. Irvine Welsh's novel "Trainspotting" is primarily set in and around which Scottish city?

Answer: Edinburgh

The characters in "Trainspotting" are mostly residents of Leith, which is the port of Edinburgh.

3. What John Kennedy Toole novel was published posthumously in 1980 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize a year later?

Answer: A Confederacy of Dunces

"A Confederacy of Dunces" was written in the sixties and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981, twelve years after John Kennedy Toole's death. It was published through the efforts of his mother.
"The Neon Bible" is the book Toole wrote when he was 16, it has also been published.
A Place to Bury Strangers is a New-York based band.
"A Clockwork Orange" was written by Anthony Burgess.

4. What is the name of the fictional island in Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead"?

Answer: Anopopei

Anopopei is the fictional island occupied by the Japanese in Mailer's WWII novel. The book follows various characters throughout the campaign of capturing the island.
Pianosa is the name Joseph Heller used for the fictional island in "Catch-22".
M�s a Tierra is the name of the island Alexander Selkirk lived on for four years.
Kokovoko comes from Melville's "Moby Dick".

5. The title of Milan Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" refers to which philosopher?

Answer: Friedrich Nietzsche

Kundera builds on the concept of 'eternal recurrence', popularized in Western thought by Friedrich Nietzsche.

Answer: It is absolutely identical to the original work.

The translation by Pierre Menard is said to be the same as the original, line for line. The reviewer (essentially the narrator) describes this as being a remarkable achievement by Menard, because of the imaginative feats he had to perform to capture the spirit of an age that had long gone; something Cervantes never did (seeing as he lived in that age).

Answer: First chapters of various novels

The even chapters are made up of ten different first chapters of ten different novels, each with varying styles and genres. The novels are all broken off after the first chapter, forcing the reader to re-evaluate what he or she is reading.

Answer: A parrot

The title of the book is "Flaubert's Parrot". Braithwaite travels to France to visit the places Flaubert spent his days and looks for the stuffed parrot Flaubert reportedly had when writing a short story in which it featured.

9. Septimus Smith is a character who suffers from shell shock and jumps out of a window in which of the following novels by Virginia Woolf?

Answer: Mrs. Dalloway

Septimus Smith appears in "Mrs. Dalloway"; he is mentally ill due to a trauma caused fighting in World War I and ultimately jumps out of a window, killing himself.

Answer: Moscow-Petushki

Venedict goes to visit his son, who lives in Petushki.

Source: Author ijsbek

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
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