FunTrivia Literature Mix: Vol 24 Quiz

Answer: The Scarlet Letter

"The Scarlet Letter" was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hester Prynne had an affair from which she bore a child. She would not reveal the identity of the father, so to pay for her sins and secrecy, she was forced to wear the letter "A" upon her bosom.

Question by player fado72

Answer: Charles Dickens

Due to the popularity of Dickens' festive masterpiece 'A Christmas Carol' (which I didn't mention in the question for fear of making it too easy!), Charles Dickens has become associated with Christmas all over the world and many British traditions are connected with this timeless novel, for example, the establishment of turkey as the standard meat to be served at Christmas dinner.

The enduring popularity of 'A Christmas Carol', along with other contemporary Yuletide innovations such as the introduction of the Christmas tree into British homes, has led the Victorian era to be regarded as something of a 'golden age of Christmas', with many later books, films, plays and television shows set at Christmas being set in Victorian England. Dickens' other Christmas stories, while not as well known, or indeed, perhaps as memorable or enduring as 'A Christmas Carol' are, nonetheless, charming in their own way.

Question by player candy-pop

Answer: rabbits

"Watership Down" was written by Richard Adams and was published in 1972. It is on many of the top 100 books to read and was made into an animated film in 1978.

Question by player raysorsedge

Answer: A Streetcar Named Desire

"Othello" is by Shakespeare, "Jesus Christ Superstar" is by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and "The Importance of Being Earnest" is by Oscar Wilde.

Question by player marcusmonkey

Answer: Juliet

In this line, from Act II, Scene 2 of "Romeo and Juliet", Shakespeare uses the light of the east as a simile for Juliet's singular beauty.

Question by player stuthehistoryguy

Answer: Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy was best known for the classic "War and Peace", widely considered a technical masterpiece. However, Tolstoy was a serious man always searching for the ultimate meaning of life and his works display very little sense of humor, so it is not surprising that he didn't care for Shakespeare's work.

Many people wouldn't agree with his assessment, of course. All of the rest of the answers are Russian writers, but Gogol focused on shorter satiric works, Pushkin on poetry, and Nabokov did write novels, but they were shorter and often wickedly funny, such as "Lolita", which Tolstoy would probably not have cared for either.

Question by player seamonster

Answer: Spare

'Spare' is a book of Prince Harry's memoirs, which was ghostwritten by J.R. Moehringer and published by Penguin Random House. The memoir was released on January 10, 2023 in the form of a 416-page book, as well as an audiobook. The audiobook is read by Prince Harry himself. Prince Harry was reportedly paid a $20 million advance on the tell-all memoir. On its release day more than 1.4 million copies of the book sold worldwide, and, according to the Nielsen BookData, in the UK, the memoir 'Spare' was the fastest-selling non-fiction book since Nielsen's records began in 1998.

Question by player heatherlois

Answer: Macbeth

"Macbeth", known to many as "the Scottish play", is Shakespeare's masterpiece of regicide and its ultimate consequences. The famous line is made in reference to Macbeth as he approaches the witches' heath.

Question by player Booklover17

Answer: Macbeth

In Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 7, Macbeth considers the consequences of murdering King Duncan. He acknowledges that his ambition may lead him to his own downfall, describing it as "vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself and falls on the other". This line illustrates Macbeth's inner struggle and foreshadows the tragic consequences of his unchecked ambition.

The play explores how ambition, when not tempered by moral considerations, can lead to destruction and chaos.

Question by player wellenbrecher

Answer: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The "Millennium" series was written by Swede Stieg Larsson and published after his untimely death at the age of 50.

Question by player lorance79