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Quiz about Literary Sneers Snits and Scandals

Literary Sneers, Snits and Scandals Quiz

And not just cheap stuff about this or that famed scribbler who was really a drunk, a loony, a Trot or a recluse.

A multiple-choice quiz by coolupway. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
coolupway

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
89,354

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
5 / 10

Plays
3998

Awards
Editor's Choice

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Who said of Lillian Hellman, "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'"? Hint

Mary McCarthy

Marge Piercy

bell hooks

Nadine Gordimer

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. Who said that James Fenimore Cooper "in the restricted two-thirds of a page... scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record"? Hint

Van Wyck Brooks

Mark Twain

Ernest Hemingway

P.J. O'Rourke

NEXT>

Question 3 of 10

3. Who called William F. Buckley a "crypto-Nazi" on television? Hint

Noam Chomsky

Alexander Cockburn

William Kunstler

Gore Vidal

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. When William F. Buckley was called a "crypto-Nazi" on TV, what was his response? Hint

He characterized his accuser as a "caitiff and a voluptuary"

He walked off the show

He said , "And you're an Anti-American, faux-aristocratic parlor pink"

"Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in your .. face."

NEXT>

Question 5 of 10

5. What two "institutions" did Tom Wolfe have the temerity to attack in a hilarious piece entitled "Tiny Mummies! The True Story of the Ruler of 43rd Street's Land of the Walking Dead!"? Hint

The "New York Times" and A.M. Rosenthal

The New Yorker and William Shawn

The "New York Review of Books" and the "Times Book Review"

"Esquire" and Clay Felker

6. Put forth a highly acclaimed autobiography, became an immediate darling of the left, and won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize; the autobiography was subsequently shown to be substantially fraudulent. Hint

Olof Palme

Lech Walesa

Rigoberta Menchu

Catherine MacKinnon

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ostensibly non-fiction, yet long since shown to be both largely fictional and also heavily plagiarized. Hint

"Let Us Now Praise Famous Men."

"Balkan Ghosts"

"Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987"

"Roots"

NEXT>

Question 8 of 10

8. Even after this alleged work of non-fiction was investigated and widely denounced as "preposterous", fraudulent and "fictitious", the movie made from the book still presented it as a "true story". Hint

"Lust for Life"

"Melvin and Howard"

"Sleepers"

"All the President's Men"

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. Kosinski and Wilkomirski: Hint

authored fraudulent Holocaust memoirs

wrote diametrically opposed accounts of the romantic life of Marie Curie

represented Haley in the Federal Court plagiarism suit.

represented Courlander against Haley in the plagiarism suit

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Jules Davids and Ted Sorensen are generally acknowledged to be (along with several other uncredited writers) the actual authors of this prize-winning book. Hint

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

"Why England Slept"

"Profiles in Courage"

"The Making of the President 1964"

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Most Recent Scores

Apr 18 2025 : MoonStone89: 2/10
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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who said of Lillian Hellman, "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'"?

Answer: Mary McCarthy

Mary McCarthy tossed off many piquant quotes during her life, including the observation that "religion is only good for good people".

2. Who said that James Fenimore Cooper "in the restricted two-thirds of a page... scored 114 offenses against literary art out of a possible 115. It breaks the record"?

Answer: Mark Twain

Samuel Clemens went by the handle Mark Twain because, when steamboats on the Mississippi used to pass through the shallows, one of the boatmen would yell out, "Mark twain", meaning "Hey, we're going through the shallows".

3. Who called William F. Buckley a "crypto-Nazi" on television?

Answer: Gore Vidal

Apparently, he felt that "crypto" sort of softened the blow. It didn't.
(The other three probably would have had interesting things to say, too.)

4. When William F. Buckley was called a "crypto-Nazi" on TV, what was his response?

Answer: "Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in your .. face."

What's amazing is not what Buckley said, but how he said it. No polysyllabics, no portmanteau words, no arcane allusions -- for once, even sixth graders could understand exactly what Buckley was saying!

5. What two "institutions" did Tom Wolfe have the temerity to attack in a hilarious piece entitled "Tiny Mummies! The True Story of the Ruler of 43rd Street's Land of the Walking Dead!"?

Answer: The New Yorker and William Shawn

Since then, half the civilized world has knocked out one or another parody of the "New Yorker" or some part thereof, but Wolfe nailed it first, and probably best. He was much derided for going after the sainted William Shawn (even J. D. SALINGER surfaced with a cri du coeur), but this piece and its follow-up, "Lost In the Whichy Thickets...", both recently reprinted in Wolfe's book, "Hooking Up" beyond being uproariously funny, also seem quite prescient in retrospect.

Answer: Rigoberta Menchu

David Stoll, an anthropologist, checked out her story and found that she had taken substantial liberties with the truth; reporter Larry Rohter confirmed Stoll's findings. (Among other things, Menchu told in the book of a brother of hers who had starved to death; the brother was thereafter found not only living, but living in relative luxury).

7. Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ostensibly non-fiction, yet long since shown to be both largely fictional and also heavily plagiarized.

Answer: "Roots"

This is interesting if rather dated dirt-- years ago, Haley paid over $600,000 to another author to settle a plagiarism suit-- but it popped up again recently when NBC ran a special commemorating the 25th anniversary of the TV movie/miniseries, and somehow GLOSSED OVER the fact that the thing had long since been shown up for a fraud.

Answer: "Sleepers"

The author has done some backpedaling when confronted with blatant implausibilites, of which there are many. As to the movie, I'd watch a Barry Levinson film about carpet maintenance if he made one, but this was ridiculous.

9. Kosinski and Wilkomirski:

Answer: authored fraudulent Holocaust memoirs

Not even their names were real, it turns out.

10. Jules Davids and Ted Sorensen are generally acknowledged to be (along with several other uncredited writers) the actual authors of this prize-winning book.

Answer: "Profiles in Courage"

"Why England Slept", on the contrary, was written for JFK by yet other people, Timesman Arthur Krock among them. Krock pulled strings to get "Profiles" the Pulitzer Prize. All of this helped lead to a JFK "victory" in '60, what may well have been the most corrupt election in American history, recent examples included.

Source: Author coolupway

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