FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Hit or Miss Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
Hit or Miss Quizzes, Trivia

Hit or Miss Trivia

Hit or Miss Trivia Quizzes

  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Literature Trivia
  6. »
  7. Literature: Something in Common

Fun Trivia
Some authors produce books which are instant hits, others have a more rocky start.
14 quizzes and 140 trivia questions.
1.
  Negative Reviews of Literary Classics editor best quiz   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Each of these ten classic novels has received negative, sometimes scathing, reviews by both literary critics and other authors. Can you identify them from the quotes and clues provided?
Easier, 10 Qns, MotherGoose, Jul 28 22
Easier
MotherGoose editor
Jul 28 22
1153 plays
2.
  Only 'Once Upon A Time...'   great trivia quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Match the author to his/her novel.
Easier, 10 Qns, nyirene330, Feb 25 22
Easier
nyirene330
Feb 25 22
1554 plays
3.
  Debut Novels of Famous Authors   best quiz  
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Match the titles of debut novels with their author, some of which gained their authors instant fame.
Very Easy, 10 Qns, MotherGoose, Dec 16 21
Very Easy
MotherGoose editor
Dec 16 21
431 plays
4.
  Eventually I Found Love   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Eventually, these classics found love, but at one point, they were tossed aside or angrily dismissed by publishers. Can you recognize the book or author from its publication history? Good luck!
Easier, 10 Qns, adams627, Apr 03 12
Easier
adams627
1659 plays
5.
  Literary "One Hit Wonders"   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz is about authors who only ever published one book or novel - the literary equivalent of a (musical) "one hit wonder".
Average, 10 Qns, MotherGoose, Jul 24 15
Average
MotherGoose editor
4985 plays
6.
  Another Time, Perhaps   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Authors and their Successes
Every successful author had to start somewhere, and for some authors, they had a very rocky start. Some of these authors got rejected more times than they could count. See which of these rejected authors you can identify.
Easier, 10 Qns, LeoDaVinci, Jan 18 23
Easier
LeoDaVinci editor
Jan 18 23
697 plays
7.
  Will You Read My Book?   best quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
'It Was a Dark and Stormy Night' was how Snoopy in 'Peanuts' started all his books. They were all rejected, but he's not the only author to suffer this fate. Can you identify the books and writers who struggled to get published?
Average, 10 Qns, rossian, Jun 23 20
Average
rossian editor
Jun 23 20
1597 plays
8.
  Ten Great Unfinished Novels   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Truman Capote dismissed the prolific style of some Beat Generation authors with the words "That's not writing, that's typing". Perhaps if these authors had been more prolific (or just typed quicker) they would not have left unfinished works behind...
Average, 10 Qns, darksplash, Jul 28 19
Average
darksplash
Jul 28 19
497 plays
9.
  That's All She Wrote    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Sometimes all it takes is one very special book to make an author a household name. Here is a collection of women who wrote that singular work that makes you say in sadness "that's all she wrote".
Average, 10 Qns, adam36, Dec 13 13
Average
adam36 gold member
726 plays
10.
  Literary First Efforts   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Every author's first published book is special. How much do you know about ten famous authors and/or their first books?
Tough, 10 Qns, MotherGoose, May 27 20
Tough
MotherGoose editor
May 27 20
2184 plays
trivia question Quick Question
Harper Lee was a "one-book author" for 55 years. What is the name of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, published in 1960?

From Quiz "Literary "One Hit Wonders""




11.
  One Book Wonders & Second Time Hits   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
As a companion to 'One Book Wonders & Second Time Flops', this quiz is about three more greats who never wrote a second novel, and seven others whose second efforts were better than their first.
Average, 10 Qns, darksplash, Apr 03 09
Average
darksplash
1166 plays
12.
  Unfinished Works by Great Authors   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
An interesting facet of literature is the unfinished manuscript. Many authors leave a work-in-progress that can offer insight into the creative process and frustrate the reader with unrealized potential. All of the works in this quiz are published.
Tough, 10 Qns, firemaple783, Feb 25 22
Tough
firemaple783
Feb 25 22
638 plays
13.
  Considered Titles    
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Often writers consider other titles before selecting the final. Match the name of the classic novel/book with its discarded title.
Average, 10 Qns, Rehaberpro, Feb 25 22
Average
Rehaberpro
Feb 25 22
277 plays
14.
  Literary One Big Hits    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz deals with writers who had (for the most part) one big hit. (They may have produced more than one work - but those works were not of comparable popularity to the ones mentioned in the quiz.)
Average, 10 Qns, robert362, Feb 26 22
Average
robert362
Feb 26 22
699 plays

Hit or Miss Trivia Questions

1. Halfway through might seem to be the worst of times to leave a novel unfinished. Which great author's great expectations were thwarted before he could complete "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood"?

From Quiz
Ten Great Unfinished Novels

Answer: Charles Dickens

In 1870, at the age of 58, Dickens was half-way through writing "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood" when he died. Others did try to puzzle out what Dickens left behind, with several versions published, and in 2012 the BBC produced a TV adaptation. This was the 15th novel by Dickens and, like several others, was to be published in parts. Six of the 12 had been published at his death. The story was a murder mystery in which the titular character was murdered. Suspicion fell on his uncle. While writing the parts that were published, Dickens was tight-lipped about the intended outcome.

2. Which book by Vladimir Nabokov was described by critics as "repulsive", "very literate pornography" and "dull, dull, dull"?

From Quiz Negative Reviews of Literary Classics

Answer: Lolita

"Lolita" is a novel about a middle-aged literature professor who is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. Although it is considered a classic today, it remains controversial because of its subject matter. A review by Orville Prescott of the "New York Times" (1958) included the remarks in the question, as well as the following: "Mr. Nabokov...does not write cheap pornography. He writes highbrow pornography..." "There are two equally serious reasons why it isn't worth any adult reader's attention. The first is that it is dull, dull, dull in a pretentious, florid and archly fatuous fashion. The second is that it is repulsive...".

3. Margaret Mitchell wrote one novel but it was the memorable "Gone with the Wind". Tragically Ms. Mitchell died in 1949 from what cause?

From Quiz That's All She Wrote

Answer: Automobile accident

Margaret Mitchell spent ten years writing "Gone with the Wind" from 1926-1936. A very private person, Ms. Mitchell might never have let the book be published had her vanity not intervened. Mitchell submitted "Gone With The Wind" for publication only after a friend had called her "frivolous" and incapable of writing a novel. When the book was published the response was overwhelming, selling a phenomenal million copies within its first six months. The 1939 Academy Award winning movie made the book even more popular; propelling the book to sales of over thirty million copies worldwide. "Gone with the Wind" is a work of fiction that touched on Mitchell's love of erotica and reflected her Southern sentiments about such topics as race relations. So pervasive was the influence of the novel that people came to believe Mitchell's fantasy represented the reality of life in post Civil War American South. "Gone with the Wind" earned Ms. Mitchell the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. However, she never wrote another novel. During World War II, Mitchell was a volunteer with the American Red Cross and personally wrote hundreds of letters to serviceman and their families as a morale gesture. In 1949, while crossing Atlanta's Georgia Street, on her way to view a movie with her husband, Ms. Mitchell was struck by a drunk driver and died five days later from her injuries.

4. Which novel, eventually published in 1945, was rejected by a New York publisher stating 'it is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA'?

From Quiz Will You Read My Book?

Answer: Animal Farm

'Animal Farm' was written by George Orwell, and is a satire on revolution and the corruption of power. One of the best known lines from it is 'all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'. The rejection notice implies that the publisher did not actually read the book or totally misunderstood it if he did. 'Watership Down' was written by Richard Adams and published in 1972. Anna Sewell wrote 'Black Beauty', which appeared in 1877 and Beatrix Potter was the author of 'The Tale of Peter Rabbit' from 1902.

5. Was it fiction or was it prediction? Which author, whose sole novel was a tale of despair and suicidal thoughts, was to go through a similar time in her own life?

From Quiz One Book Wonders & Second Time Hits

Answer: Sylvia Plath

Plath, better known as a poet, wrote "The Bell Jar" under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas in 1963. But while the heroine of the novel came though her psychological troubles and stepped back from suicide, Plath killed herself in the same year it was published.

6. Harper Lee was a "one-book author" for 55 years. What is the name of her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, published in 1960?

From Quiz Literary "One Hit Wonders"

Answer: To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee won a Pulitzer Prize for "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1961. Oprah Winfrey once asked Harper Lee why she only ever wrote one book. Harper Lee replied that she had said everything she had to say. In 2015, however, it appears she changed her mind, with the publication of her second book, "Go Set a Watchman".

7. Which "Jazz Age" novel did reviewers describe as "Ten Nights on Long Island" and "no more than a glorified anecdote, and not too probable at that"?

From Quiz Negative Reviews of Literary Classics

Answer: "The Great Gatsby" (F Scott Fitzgerald)

"The Great Gatsby" is from the Jazz Age (1920s); the other three novels are from the 1930s and do not take place on Long Island. Some of the reviews it generated included the following: "For our part, 'The Great Gatsby' might just as well be called Ten Nights on Long Island..." (review by Ralph Coghlan, "St. Louis Dispatch", 1925). "What has never been alive cannot very well go on living. So this is a book of the season only...This story is obviously unimportant...what ails it, fundamentally, is the plain fact that it is simply a story that Fitzgerald seems to be far more interested in maintaining its suspense than in getting under the skins of its people. It is not that they are false: it is that they are taken too much for granted. Only Gatsby himself genuinely lives and breathes. The rest are mere marionettes - often astonishingly lifelike, but nevertheless not quite alive..." and "...no more than a glorified anecdote, and not too probable at that" (review by HL Mencken, "Chicago Tribune", 1925).

8. Zelda Fitzgerald, muse, partner and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, only published one novel. What was this critically panned semi-autobiographical story entitled?

From Quiz That's All She Wrote

Answer: Save Me The Waltz

Zelda Sayre was born in 1900 in Montgomery Alabama. A child of privilege, Zelda was a southern belle and debutante known for her grace and beauty. At a country club dance, she met an older writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (he was four years older). Fitzgerald was enticed by the beautiful Zelda, and the two were married shortly after Fitzgerald published his first novel "The Beautiful and the Damned" in 1920. The now famous couple became icons of the 1920s and celebrities. The couple's tempestuous and often fractious marriage served as the background for much of Scott's later work including "The Great Gatsby" and "Tender is the Night". As a woman of important social status, Zelda was asked to offer her opinions as well. She started writing magazine articles including the well received New York Times piece "Eulogy on the Flapper." Zelda battled depression and bipolar disorder as Scott battled alcoholism. In 1930, Zelda was hospitalized and for therapy turned to writing a novel. Her work was published as "Save Me The Waltz" as the story of a southern belle who tries not to lose her self identity when her husband becomes a famous artist. The story was blatantly patterned after Zelda and Scott's own life. Scott himself hated the book and was openly critical of his wife, claiming that much of the story was plagiarized from his effort that became "Tender is the Night". Whether caused by Scott's influence or not, the book was critically savaged; and Zelda never published another work. Zelda Fitzgerald spent much of the 1930s estranged from her husband and in and out of mental hospitals. Scott became more morose and turned to alcohol as his writing career plummeted. Scott died in 1940 while Zelda died in 1948. Oddly, only after her death did scholars and critics reevaluate "Save Me the Waltz", examining the influence Zelda had on Scott, concluding that on its own the novel was worthy literature.

9. The 'self-help' book written by Richard Bach and published in 1970, after many rejections, featured which type of bird?

From Quiz Will You Read My Book?

Answer: Seagull

The book was 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull', which was eventually published by Avon Books and sold over seven million copies. It was made into a film in 1973, with well-known film critic Roger Ebert describing how he walked out after 45 minutes of viewing. He went on to say that the book was 'banal' and that 'it made "The Little Engine That Could" look a work of depth and ambition'. It's just as well he wasn't a publisher.

10. It is said that a prophet is rarely recognised in his own country. Which author had to publish his seminal work outside his own country, and then died before he could write a second?

From Quiz One Book Wonders & Second Time Hits

Answer: Boris Pasternak

Pasternak had to smuggle the manuscript of 'Dr Zhivago' out of Russia to Italy, where it was published in 1957. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 but was forced by his own government to refuse it. He died in 1960.

11. Published with a rough outline based on the author's notes, "The Last Tycoon" marked the end of what legendary American writer's career?

From Quiz Unfinished Works by Great Authors

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

Edmund Wilson formed the tentative outline that comprises the end of Fitzgerald's final novel, first published nearly a year after the author died of a heart attack.

12. Another "one-hit wonder" was "Gone with the Wind". It is both a romantic and historical epic about the American Civil War. Who wrote "Gone with the Wind"?

From Quiz Literary "One Hit Wonders"

Answer: Margaret Mitchell

Like Harper Lee, Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize (1937) for her epic novel. Margaret Mitchell originally named her heroine 'Pansy O'Hara'. The publisher didn't like the name and persuaded her to change it. Could we imagine Scarlett O'Hara by any other name?

13. Living in Hollywood probably influenced one of the Great American novelists of the 20th Century while he was writing "The Love Of The Last Tycoon". Who was not even nearing the end when he rode that last sled into the sky in 1940?

From Quiz Ten Great Unfinished Novels

Answer: F. Scott Fitzgerald

By the late 1930s, Fitzgerald was working in Hollywood, although some said he found the work beneath him. He had completed 17 of 31 planned chapters of the novel, enough for some critics to hail it as as masterpiece in progress. The manuscript was titled "The Last Tycoon", but someone (Fitzgerald?) corrected that to "The Love of the Last Tycoon", and that was how it became known. It was a tale of Hollywood, tracing the story of a producer. Some said the character was based on certain of those Fitzgerald had encountered. Writing in the New York Times, J. Donald Adams described the novel thus: "it is the best piece of creative writing that we have about one phase of American life - Hollywood and the movies." The novel was edited and published in 1941. You may have noted the "great sled into the sky" remark as being a reference to Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby".

14. To which controversial book does this 1960 review refer? "Miss Lee's problem has been to tell the story she wants to tell and yet to stay within the consciousness of a child, and she hasn't consistently solved it."

From Quiz Negative Reviews of Literary Classics

Answer: "To Kill a Mockingbird" (Harper Lee)

"To Kill a Mockingbird" was published in 1960. Upon its release, most reviews were favourable but not all were kind. The "Atlantic Monthly" termed it "sugar water served with humour". Flannery O'Connor, a rival author, belittled it as a children's book: "I think for a child's book it does all right...it's interesting that all the folks that are buying it don't know they're reading a child's book." The comment quoted in the question was from a review by Granville Hicks in "The Saturday Review" (1960).

15. Emily Bronte wrote only one novel, while here sisters Charlotte and Anne were more prolific. What was the title of Emily Bronte's sole work of literary fiction?

From Quiz That's All She Wrote

Answer: Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte was the middle sister of the amazing trio of 19th Century authors that included older sister Charlotte and younger sister Anne. Emily Bronte was born in 1820 and died at the age of thirty having published only one novel, the smoldering tale of Victorian Age sexuality and violence "Wuthering Heights". Emily Bronte herself was a reclusive and private person, about whom little is known. She was weak in physical health but apparently had a prodigious intellect and mind. In 1842 Charlotte and Emily studied together in Belgium hoping to learn French well enough to open their own school. Emily self taught herself German and along with her two sisters published a collective work of poetry. Her death at age thirty was attributed to consumption. "Wuthering Heights" remains a work of stunning passion that shocked the early Victorian sensibilities with its honest sexuality and stark violence. Charlotte Bronte is famous for writing "Jane Eyre" and "Villette" amongst other works; while youngest sister Anne was the author of the less known but acclaimed novels "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall". Anne died shortly before Emily at the age of 29.

16. 'Catch 22' was another book that struggled to get into print. Who wrote it?

From Quiz Will You Read My Book?

Answer: Joseph Heller

The novel was eventually published in 1961, having been rejected numerous times. One editor stated 'I haven't really the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say'. The first extract was published under the title 'Catch 18' but the novel was renamed to avoid confusion with 'Mila 18' by Leon Uris. 'Catch 22' has become integrated into the English language to describe any situation which is logically impossible, although it is also used to define any bureaucratic nightmare.

17. His hero became an icon for teenage rebellion and the tale sold more than 65 million copies. But catch this, although he wrote many short stories and novellas, which reclusive author only produced one true novel?

From Quiz One Book Wonders & Second Time Hits

Answer: J. D. Salinger

"Catcher in the Rye" became a sensation when it was published in 1951. The hero was a rebellious teenager, but the book faced many legal hurdles because of its perceived profanity. Salinger produced a string of novellas and short stories afterwards, but no original works after 1965. He refused to give interviews after 1980.

18. Voltaire is probably best known for his novel, "Candide". What is the name of Candide's "teacher"?

From Quiz Literary One Big Hits

Answer: Dr. Pangloss

Dr. Pangloss experiences countless hardships in Voltaire's clever satire.

19. What is the name of the only novel written by Emily Bronte?

From Quiz Literary "One Hit Wonders"

Answer: Wuthering Heights

"Jane Eyre" was by Charlotte Bronte. "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" were by Anne Bronte. After "Wuthering Heights" was published in 1847, some critics believed that the book had been written by Emily's brother, Bramwell, as they felt that "no woman from such a circumscribed life could have written such a passionate story" - it wasn't ladylike!

20. "The Mysterious Stranger" was one author's attack on organised religion. Who worked on three versions of the same tale, but did not manage to finish any before he grounded two fathoms deep in 1910?

From Quiz Ten Great Unfinished Novels

Answer: Mark Twain

Six years after Twain's death a novel was published, which seemed to be pieced together from the three versions. The tone of "The Mysterious Stranger" was somewhat at odds with that of Twain's other works. It was much darker, and certainly less humorous. A lot of people had problems with the style of writing. "Tonally ambivalent, philosophically inconsistent, and thematically scattered", was just one reviewer's comment. Others, though, felt it was worthwhile reading for the caustic tone of its anti-religion theme. Do you really need an explanation of the "two fathoms deep" clue?...

21. Which dystopian novel from 1932 was reviewed as "a lugubrious and heavy-handed piece of propaganda"?

From Quiz Negative Reviews of Literary Classics

Answer: Brave New World

Although "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley is now considered a classic, it was not well-received when first published. It was frequently banned due to sex and drug references. In this novel, set in a futuristic society, babies are mass-produced, conditioned to fulfill a particular role in society, and drugged to achieve a state of "happiness". Aldous Huxley explores the dangers of technology and what it can do to society. (I wonder what he would make of today's technology). Some of the reviews included the following comments: "Nothing can bring it alive" and "(he) rushes headlong into the great pamphleteering movement...(it) is a lugubrious and heavy-handed piece of propaganda" (review by Margaret Cheney Dawson, "New York Herald Tribune", 1932). H. G. Wells was personally offended by "Brave New World" because his own novel, "Men Like Gods" (1923), was allegedly the inspiration behind Huxley's novel. In 1931, while he was writing "Brave New World", Huxley told a friend that he was "writing a novel about the future - on the horror of the Wellsian Utopia and a revolt against it." Wells said "A writer of the standing of Aldous Huxley has no right to betray the future as he did in that book".

22. Which writer of spy fiction, and creator of Smiley, was rejected with the words 'you are welcome to **** - he hasn't got any future'?

From Quiz Will You Read My Book?

Answer: John le Carré

This was a rejection notice for 'The Spy Who Came in From the Cold', which found another publisher in 1963. Le Carré had worked for both MI5 and MI6, the British intelligence services, and left to become an author full time following the success of this novel. Among Len Deighton's novels are 'The Ipcress File' and Eric Ambler wrote 'The Mask of Dimitrios'. Fleming, of course, is the creator of probably the most famous spy of all in James Bond.

23. The "Christian Science Monitor" reported, "if it could have been completed, "The Buccaneers" would doubtless stand among the richest and most sophisticated" of the author's novels. What New Englander wrote this intricate work?

From Quiz Unfinished Works by Great Authors

Answer: Edith Wharton

The manuscript for "The Buccaneers" was completed by Marion Mainwaring and published in 1993, 56 years after Wharton's death.

24. Thomas Kyd, Elizabethan and contemporary of Shakespeare, wrote a play that was quite popular at the time. What was it?

From Quiz Literary One Big Hits

Answer: The Spanish Tragedy

The unlucky Kyd died young - largely as a result of torture. "Duchess" was written by John Webster (who never had another comparably popular work). "Volpone" is by Ben Jonson". "Faustus" is by Christopher Marlowe.

25. Although this author wrote many plays and poems, he wrote only one novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray", published in 1890. Who was this controversial author?

From Quiz Literary "One Hit Wonders"

Answer: Oscar Wilde

In "The Picture of Dorian Gray", the artist who creates the picture is Basil Hallward. This character was based on a friend of Oscar Wilde's - the artist Basil Ward. At Oscar Wilde's trials, the prosecution highlighted the fact that Ward often had young, naked male models in his studio and that Wilde was a frequent visitor.

26. His prose was often described as "hard-boiled", and he created a literary character just crying out to be given the Hollywood treatment. Who embarked on a big sleep and left "Poodle Springs" needing a lot more walking by someone else when he died?

From Quiz Ten Great Unfinished Novels

Answer: Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler once said: "The whole point is that the detective exists complete and entire and unchanged by anything that happens, that he is, as detective, outside the story and above it, and always will be. That is why he never gets the girl, never marries, never really has any private life, except insofar as he must eat and sleep and have a place to leave his clothes." That is recognisably true of many detectives we can think of in literature, yet Chandler had his hard-bitten Philip Marlowe get married in "Poodle Springs". Robert B. Parker completed "Poodle Springs", the eighth Philip Marlowe tale, after Chandler's death in 1959. Chandler had left just four chapters behind. The story was based in a thinly-disguised Palm Springs, with Marlowe hired by a local gambler to trace a photographer who welshed on a $100,000 bet. From the slim-pickings left behind, Robert B. Parker picked up the tale and, some critics said, out-Chandlered Chandler in style of writing. Parker, of course, was no slouch when it came to writing private eye fiction. He was the author of around 40 novels centred on his hero, Spenser. Television also picked up on the character in "Spenser: For Hire'" in the 1980s.

27. "I happen to feel that the book would have been infinitely better had it been edited down to, say, 500 pages" was a review of which epic historical drama set in the American Civil War era?

From Quiz Negative Reviews of Literary Classics

Answer: "Gone With the Wind" (Margaret Mitchell)

Despite winning a Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1937, "Gone With the Wind" has drawn considerable criticism, not only for its length, but also for historical inaccuracies, and for painting an unrealistic and romanticized picture of life in the South, particularly with respect to the issue of slavery. The comment quoted in the question was from a review by Ralph Thompson for the "New York Times" (1936).

28. Victoria Lucas was the pseudonym for what American writer's only novel - "The Bell Jar"?

From Quiz That's All She Wrote

Answer: Sylvia Plath & Plath

Sylvia Plath was a prolific writer of poetry and short stories. Her first published works came at the age of eight in her hometown of Boston Massachusetts. As a college student at Smith College, Plath started to gain notoriety for her confessional style of poetry. In 1956, she married fellow poet Ted Hughes and together they had two children. Through all of this, Plath had a life-long history of depression and mental illness. Plath was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy and hospitalized on several occasions including a nearly successful suicide attempt in 1953. Plath's only novel was titled "The Bell Jar" and was published under the pseudonym Victoria Lewis in 1961. The book while fictionalized was based on Plath's college experiences and her battles with depression. The title refers to Plath's synthesis of her own experiences into a work that is as if seen through the slightly distorted prism of a bell jar. Sylvia Plath succumbed to her mental demons and committed suicide in her own home by placing her head into a gas oven on February 11, 1963. Plath was only 30 years old when she died and left behind a two year old daughter and a one year old son. The Plath legacy of mental depression was passed to her son Nicholas, who himself committed suicide at the age of 28. Today Sylvia Plath is considered one of the most influential mid-century American female authors and "The Bell Jar" one of the classics of the modern roman à clef novel style.

29. Which American writer's first book was rejected over twenty times, before finding a publisher in 1937?

From Quiz Will You Read My Book?

Answer: Dr. Seuss

The book was 'And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street', and Vanguard Press was the publisher to recognise its potential. Among the rejections was one saying the book was 'too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling', which I would have thought would be a positive, not negative, point. All the other children's authors were British, which should have narrowed your options.

30. OK, it's supposed to be a great novel, but have YOU read it all the way through? Which author wrote an odyssey that that was considered better than his first novel but continues to baffle readers all these years later?

From Quiz One Book Wonders & Second Time Hits

Answer: James Joyce

I think I'll wait for the Quentin Tarantino movie version of 'Ulysses'. Joyce's first book, "Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man" (1916) was a barely disguised autobiography. "Ulysses", (1922) his second, still divides critics and devotees to this day.

This is category 24453
Last Updated Mar 23 2024 5:50 AM
play trivia = Top 5% Rated Quiz, take trivia quiz Top 10% Rated Quiz, test trivia quiz Top 20% Rated Quiz, popular trivia A Well Rated Quiz
new quizzes = added recently, editor pick = Editor's Pick editor = FunTrivia Editor gold = Gold Member

Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.