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Tom Wolfe's Nonfiction Trivia Quiz

Before Wolfe was a best-selling fiction writer, he was a journalist and author of some excellent articles and books on life in the United States.

A multiple-choice quiz by chikal98. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
chikal98

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
252,145

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
189

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Before it was collected in his first book of stories and essays, Wolfe wrote the feature article "Varoom, Varoom, There Goes that Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby" for a major US magazine. Which one was it? Hint

Harper's

Esquire

Time

The New Yorker

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Question 2 of 10

2. In the essay "The Pumphouse Gang" Wolfe gives an account of a group of young people who hang out at a sewage pump house in La Jolla, California. What was there favorite pastime? Hint

sailing

motorcycle racing

surfing

rock climbing

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Question 3 of 10

3. "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" chronicled the extra-literary activities of novelist Ken Kesey and his experiments with consciousness expanding substances. What was the name of the communal group with whom he conducted these acid tests? Hint

the Unitarians

the Flak Catchers

the Merry Pranksters

the Hell's Angels

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Question 4 of 10

4. Who was the beat poetry influence who served as elder statesman and bus driver to Kesey and his group for much of "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test"? Hint

William Burroughs

Allen Ginsberg

Neal Cassady

Jack Kerouac

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Question 5 of 10

5. In Wolfe's next major work, what black power group's members were the featured guests of a socialite gathering at the Manhattan duplex of composer Leonard Bernstein?

Answer: (Two or Three Words)

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Question 6 of 10

6. In 1975 and 1980, respectively, Wolfe again brought out his acerbic wit in book-long discussions on the aesthetics of modern art. His first subject was contemporary painting in "The Painted Word." The latter book, entitled "From Bauhaus to Our House," skewers the works and institutionalized criticism of what branch of modern visual arts? Hint

sculpture

filmmaking

photography

architecture

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Question 7 of 10

7. Wolfe coined one of his most famous terms in the best known essay from his third collection, "Mauve Gloves & Madmen, Clutter & Vine." What is this term which characterizes the self-involvement of modern life in the 70s?

Answer: (Two Words)

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Question 8 of 10

8. Prior to his great success in the fiction market, Wolfe's most famous work was "The Right Stuff." What US space program does he spend most of the book detailing? Hint

Apollo

Voyager

Sputnik

Mercury

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Question 9 of 10

9. Throughout the execution of Project Mercury, the seven astronauts display vastly different personalities and views of their mission. Wolfe unifies these disparate characters in their mutual admiration of an iconic pilot of a generation before. Who is this pioneer of aviation, the first test pilot to break the sound barrier? Hint

Scott Crossfield

Chuck Yeager

Eddie Rickenbacker

Alan Shepard

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Question 10 of 10

10. In his 2000 collection, Wolfe gathers essays and stories from his back-catalogue, reworking some to fit relevant issues of the day. "Hooking Up" includes an entertaining profile of the founders of Intel and the short story "Ambush at Fort Bragg". With what hot button issue does the latter deal? Hint

gays in the military

nuclear disarmament

terrorism

tort reform

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: Esquire

While reporting on the custom car culture of Southern California, Wolfe claims he couldn't figure out how to write the information in an acceptable manner, so he wrote all of his research in the form of a letter to his editor so it could be assigned to another reporter for composition. It was accepted as written with only the salutation deleted and Wolfe had found his inimitable style.

2. In the essay "The Pumphouse Gang" Wolfe gives an account of a group of young people who hang out at a sewage pump house in La Jolla, California. What was there favorite pastime?

Answer: surfing

Wolfe's so-called "pump house gang" are a fairly tame group by today's standards. Despite this characterization in the essay, some of the members denounced the story later in life saying he had made a lot of it up and they weren't nearly so wild as Wolfe claims.

Answer: the Merry Pranksters

Pranking the general public was one of the ways these early "hipsters" expressed themselves without drugs.

4. Who was the beat poetry influence who served as elder statesman and bus driver to Kesey and his group for much of "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test"?

Answer: Neal Cassady

Cassady was a "star" of the beat culture serving as model for Kerouac's "On the Road". In 1962, he met Kesey and soon became one of the Merry Pranksters driving their bus "Furthur" on much of their 1964 cross-country trip.

5. In Wolfe's next major work, what black power group's members were the featured guests of a socialite gathering at the Manhattan duplex of composer Leonard Bernstein?

Answer: Black Panthers

Wolfe displays a gleefully vicious side to his writing as he lampoons the behavior of Bernstein and his famous left-leaning friends in their attempt to be radically "chic" in the racially charged atmosphere of early 70s society. This long essay was coupled with another essay about white guilt and black rage for the book "Radical Chic & Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers."

Answer: architecture

These two quite controversial works display Wolfe's neo-conservative social views. Though he has at times denied such a right-leaning perspective on society and culture, he has been courted by the political right as a result of works such as these, and previous titles.

Answer: Me Decade

At an appearance on NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" over a decade later, Wolfe talked about this by then famous coinage and was asked by the talk-show host to do the same for the 80s. Wolfe's answer: greed.

8. Prior to his great success in the fiction market, Wolfe's most famous work was "The Right Stuff." What US space program does he spend most of the book detailing?

Answer: Mercury

The book starts with accounts of the build-up to space flight (especially the race to break the sound barrier). Then he focuses specifically on the seven "Mercury astronauts" and the socio-political climate that made their exploits so legendary.

Answer: Chuck Yeager

Scott Crossfield was a friendly rival of Yeager in the race to break the barrier. Alan Shepard was a navy pilot before he joined the Mercury program. Eddie Rickenbacker was an American fighter ace in WWI.

Answer: gays in the military

Wolfe has since written other individual articles and essays for major publications but as of 2009 has yet to put out a substantial work of non-fiction literature since this 2000 collection.

Source: Author chikal98

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