American Literature Trivia

1. Willa Cather's novel "Death Comes for the Archbishop" blends history and fiction. In it, the fictional priest, Latour, oversees the construction of what real-life cathedral?

From Quiz "Forgotten" American Women Authors

Answer: Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Jean Marie Latour was based on the real-life priest Jean-Baptiste Lamy, who became the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of New Mexico after the state was annexed by the United States. His friend Joseph Valliant is based on Joseph Projectus Machebeuf. The book includes a number of fictionalized versions of other historical characters, including Kit Carson and Manuel Antonio Chaves.

From Quiz Pulitzer Prize Winners in Fiction

Answer: Angle of Repose

Written by Wallace Stegner, "Angle of Repose" is based on the letters of Mary Hallock Foote, an author who wrote books about miners in the American west. It tells the story of Susan, an artist from New York, who meets an idealistic engineer named Oliver, a wanderer who liked to travel the west in search of work. In 1999 it was voted #1 among the best 20th century novels written about the American West by readers of the San Francisco Chronicle.

From Quiz Texas Literature

Answer: The Texas Rangers

J. Frank Dobie stated that Webb's book, "The Texas Rangers" (1935), was "the beginning, middle, and end of the subject." Many consider Webb's work to be the definitive account of the "one riot, one Ranger" law enforcement agency, whose origin predates the Civil War.

From Quiz American Novels

Answer: The Grapes of Wrath

"The Grapes of Wrath" follows the journey of the Joads, a poor family evicted from their farm in Oklahoma. They decide to travel west to California because it is rumored that there are more jobs there. The idea of going to California brings them hope for a brighter future, but many obstacles will face them along the way. The book was a major success, both for its moving prose and for its sympathy for the working class during The Great Depression.

From Quiz Four Words: The Title

Answer: The Grapes of Wrath

In John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" the Joad family are struggling for survival because the "Dust Bowl" droughts have destroyed the lands they farmed in Oklahoma. They are crushed at every turn, and the implication is that wrath will be the result when such oppression is allowed. The line about the "grapes of wrath" in the Civil War anthem "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" - written by Julia Ward Howe - is itself an allusion to Revelation 14:19-20 in the New Testament. "Of Mice and Men" is another novel by Steinbeck, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. The other two choices are song titles.

From Quiz Quotes from American Authors [3]

Answer: Harper Lee

The quote is from "To Kill a Mockingbird", by Harper Lee (1926- ). It was first published in 1960. It was an immediate success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. Lee's first published novel dealt with themes such as rape and racial inequality.

From Quiz Quotes From American Authors [2]

Answer: Truman Capote

The quote is from "In Cold Blood", by Truman Capote (1924-1984). First published in 1966, it is a work of nonfiction detailing a quadruple murder that occurred in 1959 Kansas. Capote is probably most widely known for his 1958 novella, "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

From Quiz Quotes From American Authors

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe & Poe

The quote was from "The Raven", by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). It is one of Poe's best known works. "The Raven" is a narrative poem, first published in 1845, which featured a raven who constantly repeated the word, "Nevermore". Other notable works by Poe are "The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Masque of the Red Death".

From Quiz In the Shadows: Interesting American Women Writers

Answer: Jean Stafford

Jean Stafford won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1970. She is one of those writers who gets more acclaim for her stories than for her longer fiction. The fascinating novel, "Boston Adventure," was a best seller when it came out in 1944. She wrote two more highly innovative novels, "The Catherine Wheel" (1952) and "The Mountain Lion" (1947). She is perhaps best known for being being terribly disfigured and wounded in an automobile accident with her then husband Robert Lowell. Their marriage was fraught and negative. She would later write a long short story, "The Interior Castle" to describe the effects of that marriage on her life. It is a shame that her novels were not recognized for being genuine experimental milestones.

From Quiz An American Literature Syllabus

Answer: Anne Bradstreet

Anne's brother-in-law had her poems published without her knowledge in 1650. Her excellent writing gives us a glimpse into life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and includes such works as "To My Dear and Loving Husband" and "Upon the Burning of Our House".

From Quiz Authors and their Works

Answer: Shirley Jackson

"The Lottery" was published in the New Yorker Magazine and shocked many of the people who read it.

From Quiz Serious African American Literature I

Answer: Eldridge Cleaver

Cleaver wrote "Soul on Ice" while in prison. After leaving the Black Panther Party, he joined the Republican Party.

From Quiz Oklahoma Literature

Answer: Ralph Ellison

H.G. Wells' 1897 novel "The Invisible Man", often considered a large short story, is about a scientist who successfully changes his "refractive index" to that of air and becomes invisible. The 1952 novel "Invisible Man," which Oklahoma City's Ralph Ellison based on an original short story, is about an unnamed African-American man who is considered to be socially invisible. This 1953 novel was honored by the National Book Foundation, and had major social influence. Carolyn Hart, also of Oklahoma City, is the award-winning author of the "Death on Demand" series. Harold Keith, whose "Rifles for Watie" won the Newberry Medal in 1958, was born in Lambert, Oklahoma Territory, in 1903. Pulitzer Prize winning Momaday, from Lawton, Oklahoma, is perhaps best known for his "House Made of Dawn" and "The Way to Rainy Mountain", both of 1969.

From Quiz Quotable Characters in American Lit.

Answer: Nick "The Great Gatsby"

Nick is the narrator of "The Great Gatsby," by F. Scott Fitzgerald. "The Great Gatsby" was made into a movie in 1974, starring Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow as Daisy and Sam Waterson as Nick.

From Quiz Great American (Anti-) War Novels

Answer: A Farewell to Arms

That was easy, wasn't it? Yep, these titles are all by Ernest Hemingway. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" takes place during the Spanish Civil War; "The Sun Also Rises" takes place after WWI, in Paris; and "Death in the Afternoon" is about bullfighting.

From Quiz Southern Literature Classics 2

Answer: He leaves her sleeping at a lunch counter in Alabama.

Lucynell, a deaf mute who has never been away from her mother for two days before, is left at the Hot Spot, a roadside diner, while Shiftlet journeys on in Lucynell's mother's automobile. While the boy behind the counter describes Lucynell sleeping at the counter as looking "like an angel of Gawd," Shiftlet calls her a hitchhiker and leaves her behind. In a classic bit of O'Connor dark humor, Shiftlet later asks God to "Break forth and wash the slime from this earth!" and immediately, "fantastic raindrops" begin to pelt Shiftlet's car as it speeds to Tuscaloosa.

From Quiz Classic American Novels

Answer: Queequeg

Tashtego is a Gay Head Indian and becomes Stubb's harpooner. Daggoo is a gigantic Negro savage, and becomes Flash's harpooner. Fedallah is the mysterious Parsee who, as a harpooner, works for Captain Ahab himself. Queequeg is Starbuck's harpooner. Both are 'reasonable people'.

From Quiz Match Author and Literary Period

Answer: Colonial Period

The Colonial Period ran from 1630-1760. Other authors in this period include Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Edwards and Cotton Mather.

From Quiz Minnesota Authors, Illustrators and Cartoonists

Answer: Fences

August Wilson, the child of a Caucasian father and an African-American mother, was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh but moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in the 1980's. His play 'Fences' opened in 1985 at the Yale Repertory Theater and then moved to New York in 1987. 'Fences' was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for 1987.

From Quiz African American Women Authors

Answer: Alice Walker

Alice Walker was the youngest child of eight. She was blind in one eye due to a childhood accident from playing with her brother. During her childhood, Walker found comfort in reading and writing. Walker was active in civil rights during her college education and met Martin Luther King Jr. She married a white civil rights attorney and became a history consultant. Many of her first works of poetry and novels reflected her time with the civil rights movement. Walker's work, "The Color Purple", became publicized in the film and theater industry. It related to many audiences with topics of abuse, civil rights, womanhood, and childhood trauma. The main character in the novel, Celie, learns to see herself as a valuable part of the universe, despite many obstacles.

From Quiz Pulitzer Prize Winners in Fiction

Answer: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay are Jewish-American cousins who use their unique talents to create superheros for the comics, some of which paint Hitler in an ominous light. Joe the magician had escaped from the Czech Republic during the German invasion, which gave rise to the idea of their most beloved creation: the Escapist. The book was well-received by critics and may serve as a benchmark in 21st century literature.

From Quiz Texas Literature

Answer: The Longhorns

J. Frank Dobie taught the first class devoted to Texas Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. "The Longhorns" (1941) depicts the hearty breed as surviving against all odds through a myriad of harsh and unforgiving conditions and circumstances, a metaphor for the State of Texas itself. Dobie's work is credited with saving the breed from extinction.

From Quiz American Novels

Answer: Invisible Man

"Invisible Man" was immediately hailed as a masterpiece when it was first published. It was Ralph Ellison's first novel and he won the National Book Award for it in 1953. Its portrayal of intense racial and civic struggles in the 1950s earned it the recognition of being a milestone in African-American literature.

From Quiz Write or Wrong, It's All American to Me

Answer: Lyman

Baum was born in 1856 in New York. He wrote dozens of novels, fantasy novels, short stories and poems. Many of his works promoted the action and capability of women. He also strongly promoted literacy among the Native Americans.

From Quiz Quotes from American Authors [3]

Answer: J.D. Salinger

The quote is from "The Catcher in the Rye", by J.D. Salinger (1919-2010). It was first published in 1951. The novel is known for its portrayal of teenage angst and rebellion. Salinger also authored short stories, a collection of which were published in 1953, called "Nine Stories".

From Quiz Quotes From American Authors

Answer: Mark Twain

The quote is from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", by Mark Twain (1835-1910). It was first published in 1876. Twain is sometimes called the Father of American Literature. He earned this nickname in part by his witty satire and the accurate regional dialect used in dialogue of his characters. Other notable works by Twain include "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".

From Quiz I Have a Novel Idea!

Answer: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Longfellow's achievements in poetry overshadowed his one novel and his other exploits, such as translating Dante's "Divine Comedy." Immortalized by his "Paul Revere's Ride", Longfellow's more sophisticated poetry includes his epic, "The Song of Hiawatha," and "The Courtship of Miles Standish." In 1884, Longfellow was honored with a bust in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey, the first non-British writer so honored.

From Quiz American Literature

Answer: Anne Bradstreet

This poem, "To My Dear and Loving Husband," appeared in Bradstreet's collection "The Tenth Muse." Sarah Pierpont Edwards was the wife of the Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards, and was famous for her piety, kindness, and the overall goodness of her life. Rebecca Nurse was an exemplary Puritan matron who was a victim of the Salem witch hysteria--if such a pillar of Puritanism could be convicted on no solid evidence, who was safe? Mary Rowlandson was the wife of a Puritan minister and is best known for her book based on her capture by Indians during King Philip's War, "The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson."

From Quiz The Lost Generation in Paris

Answer: Gertrude Stein

In a conversation with Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein said "All of you young people who served in the war...you are all a lost generation". The phrase depicted a generation, characterized by doomed youth, hedonism and creativity, that had been severely wounded by their experiences and horrors of the war.

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