Famous Writers; Obscure Works Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hard Times

Charles Dickens serialized this novel in 1854, and it was his tenth book. In it, he satirizes the Utilitarianism movement of the time, and found that it had dangers as he had found with materialist laissez-faire. It is the shortest of Dickens' novels.

Answer: Cymbeline

"Cymbeline" was first published in the First Folio in 1623. There is not a known date when it was written, but scholars believe Shakespeare may have had a collaborator. It is set in ancient Briton. Although it had a modest popularity, by the nineteenth century, it declined. The plot line is regarded as tedious and implausible.

Answer: The Torrents of Spring

Written in ten days, the work was written as a satire on pretentious writers (as described by Hemingway), particularly Sherwood Anderson. It is set in Michigan, and follows the romances of factory workers Yogi Johnson and Scripps O'Neill, each of whom has a different understanding of the concept of a 'perfect woman'. Johnson romances a Parisian prostitute and a Native American who wears only moccasins.

Answer: Lady Susan

This is the "lost" Jane Austen novel, probably written around 1794 but not published until 1871. Lady Susan is in contrast to Austen's other heroines. A widow, she is predatory toward men and tries to make a favorable marriage for her sixteen year old daughter and an even more favorable one for herself, with mixed results.

Answer: The Gilded Age

After the Civil War there was an economic boom that Twain referred to 'the gilded age', that was followed by a sharp depression. Mark Twain lost a good deal of his fortune and had to go on lecture tours to recoup. The novel is his reflection on the greed and shenanigans of that era. Charles Dudley Warner was Twain's collaborator on the book.

Answer: We the Living

This was Ayn Rand's début novel, and she had great difficulty getting it published in 1934. She once described it as the closest she come to an autobiography. Although overshadowed by later novels--"Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead"--it had a revival and has sold over three million copies, due in part to her popularity.

The novel details growing up in Russia and includes a stinging condemnation of communism.

Answer: The Wayward Bus

John Steinbeck's 1947 novel was a financial success, but is considered by critics to be one of his weaker efforts. The plot centers on passengers on a bus, and deals with these passengers' internal dialogues. Steinbeck dedicated the novel to his wife Gwyn, but they were divorced shortly after publication.

Answer: Nausea

Jean-Paul Sartre first novel was "Nausea", that he considered one of his better works. The basic plot concerns a man under the delusion that inanimate objects are creating anxiety, resulting in chronic nausea. The story, however, lays the groundwork for Sartre's often profound philosophical musings.

In addition to his many novels and philosophical tracts, he was a playwright, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. For a while he wrote screenplays.

Answer: Shirley

Charlotte Bronte was the surviving member on the four Bronte writers--Emily, Anne, and Patrick (called Branwell). At this point in grief, it is believed that some of the characters were modeled after her siblings. Up to 1849 Shirley was regarded as a male name, but after publication of "Shirley" it became a popular girl's name. Shirley is a landowner and an independent heiress. Shirley is lively, cheerful, full of ideas about how to use her money and how to help people, and very interested in business concerns, a rare role for a woman of that era.

Answer: The Crows of Pearblossom

The dystopian novel "Brave New World" (1932) is the Huxley novel for which he is most remembered, but in 1944 he took on the task of writing a children's book. "The Crows of Pearblossom" concerns two crows who want to have children, but the eggs are eaten by a snake before they hatch. The snake is tricked into eating mud balls and dies, so the crows at last have a very large family. Huxley is reported to have written it for a niece. First written in 1944, it was not printed until 1967. An illustrated edition was published in 2011.