Twentieth Century Literature of the Americas Quiz

Answer: Robertson Davies

Davies' (1913-1995) works deal with such diverse topics as Canadian culture, life in small-town Canada, Jungian psychology, espionage, art forgery, and magic, to name a few. Consequently, some of his novels, particularly those in the Deptford Trilogy, mix various well-established genres -- mystery, fantasy, romance -- to forge a new one, described by critics and scholars as "Canadian Gothic".

Answer: The Edible Woman

"The Edible Woman" explores the constraints imposed by modern consumerism on women, as the protagonist's inability to eat is propelled by her projecting human characteristics on food and empathizing with it. In the novel, food thus becomes a metaphor for the female self, consumed by society's impulse to "devour" and destroy female identity. Atwood nonetheless characterized "The Edible Woman" as proto-feminist rather than feminist.

Answer: Fitzgerald

"The Great Gatsby", considered by many as one of the greatest English language novels of the twentieth century, simultaneously celebrates and questions the viability of the American Dream. Gatsby, a Christ-like figure, pursues a tainted dream, so that F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) both commends the purity of Gatsby's vision and mocks his naivete in believing he can realize it. For Fitzgerald, Gatsby thus becomes a metaphor for a young nation, on the brink of greatness but doomed to repeat past follies.

Many critics and historians deem Fitzgerald's pronouncement as particularly prophetic of the fate of the US in the twentieth century.

Answer: Mississippi

Like the "Great Gatsby", Faulkner's "Light in August" is a great twentieth century novel that features a Christ-like figure, Joe Christmas, as one of its protagonists. "Light in August" experiments with various literary techniques and themes introduced in the Modernist period, such as stream of consciousness, extensive use of flashback, and Freudian-psychological concerns.

Answer: Macondo

Macondo, which some critics believe stands for Garcia Marquez's (b. 1927) childhood home of Aracataca, Colombia, is the name of a tree that is found in Aracataca. In "One Hundred Years of Solitude", Macondo is the home of the Buendia family, seven generations of which are traced in the novel.

Answer: Argentinean

Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) made use of his remarkable erudition in such works as "Ficciones," (or "Fictions") a collection of essays on such diverse topics as theology, philosophy, mathematics, and literature. Borges' talents as a translator -- he translated into Spanish literary works in English, French, German, Old English, and Old Norse -- are evident in "Ficciones", considered to be as eloquent in Spanish as it is in translation.

Answer: true

A visit to Macchu Picchu inspired Neruda to write "Alturas de Macchu Picchu" ("Heights of Macchu Picchu"), a book-length poem that celebrates the Inca citadel while condemning the practice of slavery among the Inca. Neruda's communist leanings and early admiration of Stalinist Russia made the decision to award Neruda the Nobel Prize in 1971 a difficult one.

Answer: Jorge Amado

One of the best-known modern Brazilian authors, Jorge Amado (1912-2001) wrote extensively about his native state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil, particularly about the poor, urban mulatto communities of the state. "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands", adapted into film in 1976, uses magic realism to trace remarried widow Dona Flor's psychological struggle with fidelity.

Answer: All of these

Combining such diverse genres as feminist, Mexican-American, and border literature, such works by Sandra Cisneros (b. 1954) as "The House on Mango Street", also a coming-of-age-novel, convey the sense of isolation that each of these separate identities confers. In writing, Cisneros gives voice to this isolation, creating a style as distinctive as her experience of the American Dream.

Answer: false

Vargas Llosa (b. 1936), originally a communist sympathizer whose political stance shifted to the right in the course of his career, ran against and lost to eventual president Alberto Fujimori in 1991. Vargas Llosa, like other Modernist Latin American writers, has written in various genres, including comedy, mystery, political thrillers, and historical novels, such as "The War of the End of the World".