Special Sub-Topic: Great American (Anti-) War Novels Click Here To Play: Great American (Anti-) War Novels

What great novel of World War I starts with this line: "In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains."

A Farewell to Arms. That was easy, wasn't it? Yep, these titles are all by Ernest Hemingway. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" takes place during the Spanish Civil War; "The Sun Also Rises" takes place after WWI, in Paris; and "Death in the Afternoon" is about bullfighting.

Stephen Crane's seminal novel of the Civil War, "The Red Badge of Courage", is based on the author's own experiences in the war. True or false?

f. Stephen Crane was born in 1871. He did use autobiographical material in some of his other works though, such as his short story "The Open Boat".

Only one of these books was written by one or several Americans. Which one?

The Ugly American. "The Quiet American" was written by Graham Greene, an Englishman. If you haven't read the book, at least go and see the movie. Michael Caine is fantastic. Erich Maria Remarque, a German, wrote about his WWI-experiences in "All Quiet on the Western Front". Bao Ninh, a North Vietnamese, wrote "The Sorrow of War".

One morning, a simpleton soldier in the Vietnam jungle decides that he would rather be in Paris right now and goes AWOL. This is the premise for what wonderful Vietnam War novel?

Going After Cacciato -- Tim O'Brien. Read them all. They're great.

"The Short-Timers" by Gustav Hasford was the basis for what Vietnam War movie?

Full Metal Jacket. Platoon was based on a script by Michael Herr; Apocalypse Now, as you probably know (ahem), is loosely based on Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Good Morning Vietnam's Adrian Cronauer is based on a real-life Armed Forces DJ.

What is the setting of Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead"?

South Pacific. The Naked and the Dead takes place in WWII, on Anopopei, a fictitious South Pacific island held by the Japanese. Mailer has written some amazingly good and outrageously rotten stuff. Be sure to check out his "The Armies of the Night" -- it's fun whether you love him or hate him.

Another -- hopefully -- easy one: what author wrote a book that includes the characters of Snowden, Nately, Clevinger, Appleby (who's got flies in his eyes) and PFC Wintergreen?

Joseph Heller. The book, of course, is "Catch-22". Other wonderful characters in the book: Yossarian (the "hero"), Col. Scheisskopf, and Major Major Major Major (don't ask).

Kurt Vonnegut wrote one of the greatest "lousy little books" about war, "Slaughterhouse-Five". He apologizes to his publisher that "it is so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because..."

... there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Hope I didn't throw you off with the Billy Pilgrim reference there. The first sentence of chapter two is, indeed, "Listen: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

Which of the following titles of war novels is not "borrowed" from another source?

The Things They Carried -- Tim O'Brien. "From Here to Eternity" is a quote from Kipling's 1892 poem "The Gentlemen-Rankers": Gentlemen-rankers out on the spree/Damned from here to Eternity/God ha' mercy on such as we/Baa! Yah! Bah!" "A Rumor of War": "And ye shall hear of wars & rumors of wars...For nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom:" (Matthew 24:7) "For Whom the Bell Tolls": "Ask not", says Mr. John Donne -- "it tolls for Thee!" (check out "No Man is an Island")

And finally: Please tell me which author, primarily renowned for his sea novels, wrote a cycle of poems about the Civil War called "Battle-Pieces"?

Herman Melville & Melville. Indeed. Well, I hope you had a nice and interesting time with my first quiz ever. Call again. And bye for now.