Contemporaries Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dorothy Sayers

Sayers was most famous for writing the Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels. However, she also translated Dante's "Inferno" and wrote essays ("The Lost Tools of Learning" argued for a return to classical education), plays ("The Man Born to Be King" being her most famous), and books on theology (including "The Mind of the Maker").

She was not an official member of "The Inklings" (which contained only men), but she was friends with many of them, particularly Lewis. Of the other answers, only Doyle was alive at the same time as Lewis, Tolkien, and Sayers, although he was roughly 40 years older.

Answer: Ludwig van Beethoven

Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti are now considered among the greatest of Baroque composers. Scarlatti and Handel were friends. Bach made several attempts to meet with Handel but never succeeded. Beethoven was born 85 years later (in 1770).

Answer: Louisa May Alcott

Bronson Alcott was a teacher, writer, philosopher, abolitionist, advocate for women's rights, and vegan. Alcott, Hawthorne, and Thoreau belonged briefly to a commune called Brooke Farm, which was founded to carry out their utopian ideals. Hawthorne visited but did not approve; his "Blithedale Romance" is a fictionalized account of the experiment.

Louisa May Alcott is most famous for writing "Little Women." Two of the sequels ("Little Men" and "Jo's Boys") describe life at Plumfield, the school founded by Jo March and her husband. Plumfield embodies many of the educational ideas of Bronson Alcott.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Darwin and Lincoln were both born on February 12, 1809. They never met, although Darwin followed the events of the Civil War and supported the Union. The similarities and differences between these two influential men are discussed in several books: "Lincoln and Darwin: Shared Visions of Race, Science, and Religion," by James Lander, and "Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life," by Adam Gopnik. Scopes was tried for teaching Darwinian theory but was not born until 1900. Cook was born in 1728 and Roosevelt in 1858.

Answer: Nicolaus Copernicus

The official name of the organization was "The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge." It was granted a royal charter by King Charles II. Wren and Boyle were founding members of the society. Newton was younger than the other two but definitely corresponded with Boyle and took over as president of the society from Wren.

The society still exists, and many famous scientists have been inducted over the years. Copernicus could not have been one of them, since he lived from 1473 to 1543.

Answer: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams

Jefferson (aged 82) and Adams (aged 90) died within five hours of each other. They had radically different ideas of how America should be governed: Adams believed in a strong central government, while Jefferson supported states' rights. When President Adams passed the Alien and Sedition acts, Vice President Jefferson was appalled and began strategizing on how to win the election of 1800.

It was a vicious campaign, with Jefferson eventually coming out the winner. Despite their differences, they renewed their friendship in 1812 and corresponded for the next 14 years.

Answer: Moliere

Shakespeare and Marlowe were born in the same year (1564). Shakespeare did not become a prominent playwright until after Marlowe's early death in a bar-room brawl. (Some scholars have speculated that the death was faked and Marlowe was the actual author of the masterpieces ascribed to his rival.) Spenser was about 12 years older, but definitely writing during the same time period.

He was the leading poet of the age. His most famous poem is "The Fairie Queene. Moliere wasn't born until 1622.

Answer: Albert Einstein

Einstein published his theory of relativity in 1905. Two years later, Picasso painted "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", which is considered the beginning of Cubism and Modern Art. The similarities between their world views is explored in "Einstein, Picasso: Space. Time, and the Beauty that Causes Havoc" by Arthur J. Miller.

Answer: Martin Luther

Cranach (1472-1553) was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career. He embraced the cause of the Reformation and painted many of its leaders. Cranach made numerous portraits of Luther and provided woodcut illustrations for his translation of the Bible. Cranach was a witness at Luther's betrothal and the godfather to his first child. None of the other choices were alive in the same time period. Leo I was born in 390, Joan of Arc in 1412, and Wesley in 1707.

Answer: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Gertrude Stein supposedly coined the phrase in conversation, saying, "You are all a lost generation." Hemingway used the quotation as an epigraph to "The Sun Also Rises," a novel that captures the attitudes and lifestyle typical of the group. His "A Movable Feast" is a memoir of life in 1920s Paris.

Hemingway was close friends with Fitzgerald for a while, although he did not approve of Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda. Hemingway met Dos Passos in Paris in the 1920s and they went together to Spain during the Spanish Civil War. Dostoevsky died in 1881, before any of the others were born.