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Quiz about Interesting Facts about World Writers
Quiz about Interesting Facts about World Writers

Interesting Facts about World Writers Quiz


I hope you enjoy taking this quiz as much as I have enjoyed putting it together. The world of the writer is indeed fascinating!

A multiple-choice quiz by chessart. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
chessart
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
82
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Tough
Avg Score
5 / 10
Plays
3438
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. What crusading writer ran for Governor of California in 1934, thirty years after he had become famous with a book exposing abuses in the meatpacking industry? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. What writer first became famous with 'The Naked and the Dead', his World War II novel, and later ran for Mayor of New York in 1969, with Jimmy Breslin as his running mate? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What Oklahoma town did the Joad family emigrate from in Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. In Frederick Exley's autobiographical novel 'A Fan's Notes', what team was the author fanatically devoted to? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Who accidentally killed his wife while trying to shoot a glass off her head? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Samuel Clemens started using the pseudonym 'Mark Twain' when he was 27. Where did that phrase come from? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What book begins, 'In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly-fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen.' ? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Fill in the blank: 'His name was George F. _____________. He was forty-six years old now, in April, 1920, and he made nothing in particular, neither butter nor shoes nor poetry, but he was nimble in the calling of selling houses for more than people could afford to pay.' Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Who was such a poor public speaker that his 1949 Nobel Prize acceptance speech was greeted with only polite applause, because it was virtually unintelligible to the audience, but was universally acclaimed as one of the best acceptance speeches ever after it was published in the paper the following day? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. James Michener's last TV interview was about what? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. What crusading writer ran for Governor of California in 1934, thirty years after he had become famous with a book exposing abuses in the meatpacking industry?

Answer: Upton Sinclair

Sinclair remained socially active after the success of 'The Jungle', which exposed the meatpacking abuses. But even though he was the Democratic candidate in the 1934 California election, President FDR refused to endorse him, and he ended up losing the race.
2. What writer first became famous with 'The Naked and the Dead', his World War II novel, and later ran for Mayor of New York in 1969, with Jimmy Breslin as his running mate?

Answer: Norman Mailer

A serious run, though he drew less than 10 percent of the vote. Joe Flaherty's book 'Managing Mailer' gives a fascinating account of the campaign, including the profanity-laced tirade against Mailer's own supporters, which doomed the campaign.
3. What Oklahoma town did the Joad family emigrate from in Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath'?

Answer: Sallisaw

Sallisaw is also known for being the hometown of 1930's crime figure Baby Face Nelson.
4. In Frederick Exley's autobiographical novel 'A Fan's Notes', what team was the author fanatically devoted to?

Answer: New York (football) Giants

Winner of a National Book Award in 1968, but inexplicably, Exley never wrote anything else of consequence. He died in 1992.
5. Who accidentally killed his wife while trying to shoot a glass off her head?

Answer: William S. Burroughs

The tragic accident happened in 1951 when Burroughs and his second wife Joan Vollmer were partying in a room above a bar in Mexico. Burroughs was never tried for the accident. Eight years later Burroughs published his modern classic, "The Naked Lunch". He once stated that 'I'm forced to the appalling conclusion that I would never have become a writer but for Joan's death.'

Burroughs lived for a time in Tangier in a male brothel. In 1959 published The Naked Lunch, which is now accepted as a modern classic.
6. Samuel Clemens started using the pseudonym 'Mark Twain' when he was 27. Where did that phrase come from?

Answer: a Mississippi riverboat phrase

7. What book begins, 'In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly-fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen.' ?

Answer: A River Runs Through It

From the highly-acclaimed autobiographical novel by Norman Maclean, describing his childhood experiences growing up in early 20th-century Montana. Published in 1976, after the author had retired from his teaching career, the book was successfully made into a film in 1992 by Robert Redford.
8. Fill in the blank: 'His name was George F. _____________. He was forty-six years old now, in April, 1920, and he made nothing in particular, neither butter nor shoes nor poetry, but he was nimble in the calling of selling houses for more than people could afford to pay.'

Answer: Babbitt

In 1930 Sinclair Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, for his novel 'Babbitt'.
9. Who was such a poor public speaker that his 1949 Nobel Prize acceptance speech was greeted with only polite applause, because it was virtually unintelligible to the audience, but was universally acclaimed as one of the best acceptance speeches ever after it was published in the paper the following day?

Answer: William Faulkner

A wonderful speech about his optimism for the future and the writer's role in it.
10. James Michener's last TV interview was about what?

Answer: his experiences as a hobo during the depression

The interview was given for the History Channel's special on the Great Depression, which by the way is a very well-done documentary.
Source: Author chessart

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Terry before going online.
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