Literary Classics Trivia

1. What Jules Verne novel is narrated by Professor Pierre Aronnax and involves a ship called the Nautilus?

From Quiz Classical Classics

Answer: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" starts with an expedition to find a mysterious sea monster which has been sighted roaming the ocean. Famed French marine biologist Professor Pierre Arronax is chosen to head an expedition on the "Abraham Lincoln" to find this sea monster. After fighting and losing a battle to the sea monster, they find out it is actually a submarine run by Captain Nemo. The rest of the story takes place on the Nautilus as it travels around the seas.

From Quiz Random Classics

Answer: The Overman/The Superman

This philosophical character was first introduced in "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". The Ultimate Man appears to be the Ubermenchs' opposite while Zarathustra was the lonely hermit who preached the meaning of the Ubermensch.

From Quiz Classic Authors - Lesser-Known Works

Answer: Fanshawe

"The Snow-Image" was Hawthorne's continuation of the beloved short story collection, "Twice-Told Tales," while "The Marble Faun" was Hawthorne's last finished novel--notable for being the author's only major work to take place outside New England. "Israel Potter" was Herman Melville's attempt to rejuvinate his career after the crushing disappointment of his controversial novel "Pierre."

From Quiz Mixed Classics

Answer: Robinson Crusoe

"The Moonstone" is a great classic mystery, with many good plot twists.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 3

Answer: Archimago

Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) was one of the first scholars to attend the Merchant Taylors School in London. He became a graduate of Cambridge University (Pembroke College) but had been a published poet since school. He secured the patronage of Sir Philip Sidney, a leading political, literary and social icon of his day. Spenser created a particular verse form subsequently called the 'Spensarian Stanza' within which format he wrote the 'Faerie Queene'. Some academics and critics think his creation was derived from the verse form used by Chaucer in the 'Monk's Tale'.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 2

Answer: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 -1873) was an Irish writer of short stories and novels concerning the strange and supernatural. His work is an early example of the genre of horror fiction. He was related to both Alice Sheridan Le Fanu (his grandmother) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan (his great-uncle) who were both playwrights.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 1

Answer: Walter Scott

Published in 1820 by Sir Walter Scott the novel was 'The Abbot' and it continued the story begun in Scott's earlier novel called 'The Monastery'. Curiously, the sequel was much better received by the public than had been the original novel. Scott has become one of the giants of English Literature. As both writer and poet, he was an accomplished storyteller and one of the greatest historical novelists of al time. Scott wrote twenty-seven historical novels as well as plays and poetry.

From Quiz The Revamped Classic Book Mash

Answer: Catherine Barkley

The American soldier, Frederic Henry, and the English nurse, Catherine Barkley, liked each other when they first met. After Henry got wounded in battle and was sent to the hospital, they fell in love head over heels. Catherine and Henry spend so much time together that Catherine became pregnant. She died in childbirth.

From Quiz Literary Classics Questions

Answer: Thor Heyerdahl

Thor Heyerdahl wrote about a 4,300-mile voyage on a raft.

From Quiz Classical Classics

Answer: The Count of Monte Cristo

The story was first published as a serial in the "Journal Des Debats" in 1844 and borrowed from a work by Jacques Peuchet. Edmond Dantes is a rising star of a sailor, with a beautiful fiancée, who, because of this, has others who wish him ill fortune. His friend Fernand would also like the love of his fiancée Mercedes, Danglars is jealous of Edmond rising in seniority on the ship. Edmond is set up by Fernand and Danglars as a Bonapartist, which the prosecutor Vilefort believes is untrue. When Vilefort finds out the real Bonapartist is his father, he ensures that Edmond takes the rap for the false accusations. The rest of the story follows Edmond's imprisonment, escape and revenge on those who did him wrong.

From Quiz Random Classics

Answer: The Nameless City

"The Call of Cthulu" is arguably the most famous of his stories; however, "The Nameless City" is considered by scholars to be the first tale of Lovecraft's Cthulu Mythos. It is also the introduction of Abdul Alhazred, the infamous author of the legendary Necromonicon.

From Quiz Classic Authors - Lesser-Known Works

Answer: Coming Up For Air

"The Road to Wigan Pier" and "Down and Out in Paris and London" are both nonfiction works by Orwell noted for their technically uneven writing and passionate sympathy for the working classes. "Butterfield 8" is an often overlooked novel deserving a place among author John O'Hara's best works.

From Quiz Mixed Classics

Answer: Arthur Dimmesdale

Roger Chillingworth was Hester Prynne's husband, believed to be dead. Governor Bellingham and John Wilson were minor characters.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 3

Answer: Nicholas Nickleby

It must be impossible to do justice to a quiz on classic English Literature without reference to the great novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Much of Dickens' own life is reflected in his novels. He had a hard childhood and worked as a child labourer in a blacking factory. His father had more optimism than business sense and was eventually imprisoned in Marshalsea prison. Any detailed look at his novels and his own biography provide revealing glimpses of art and reality.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 2

Answer: Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold (1822-88) was the son of Dr Thomas Arnold, famous as the headmaster of Rugby School and as an innovator of ethical education practices. After graduating from Oxford in 1844 he spent several years travelling. His first poem 'Strayed Reveller' surprised family, friends and critics with its evidence of serious learning. He also became a noted publisher of prose. He established a reputation as a leading poet of the day. In the year 1851 he married and became one of 'Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools' a post he held for thirty-five years. In addition, he was Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1857 to 1867.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 1

Answer: The Alchemist

The playwright and poet Ben Jonson lived during the turbulent and exciting (in terms of English Literature anyway) times of the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period. He made something of a notorious reputation when in 1599 he was imprisoned along with other actors for his part in a scurrilous play, "Isle of Dogs", and later again for killing an actor in a duel. Most critics agree that his particularly volatile nature was reflected in his poetry and plays, which are a combination of satire and classic references.

From Quiz Literary Classics Questions

Answer: Amy

From Quiz Classical Classics

Answer: Houyhnhnms

In his first voyage Gulliver encounters the Liliputians, on his second voyage the Brobdinagians, the Glubbdubribians were met on his third voyage and on his fourth and final voyage he encountered the Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms were intelligent horses and in their country human-like creatures were barbaric and referred to as Yahoos.

From Quiz Random Classics

Answer: Ten years

While Dostoyevsky's sentence was four years, his character received a much harsher ten years of hard labor in the Siberian prison camps.

From Quiz Classic Authors - Lesser-Known Works

Answer: The Village of Stepanchikovo

"The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" is one of Dostoevsky's particularly bleak short stories, "Old Fashioned Farmers" is a short story by Nikolai Gogol, and "Petersburg" is Andrei Bely's surrealist masterpiece about the title city.

From Quiz Mixed Classics

Answer: a place

A very long but very good book, following the lives of people in and around Middlemarch.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 3

Answer: T. B. Macaulay

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859) was an accomplished and voluminous author of essays, literary criticisms, histories and political works. He gained an impressive reputation as a classical scholar and debater.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 2

Answer: A New Way To Pay Old Debts

Philip Massinger (1583-1640) wrote all of these plays including 'A New Way To Pay Old Debts'. He was one of the many brilliant dramatists and poets who lived in Elizabethan and Jacobean Britain. He left Oxford without taking his degree but was soon commissioned by the theatre manager Henslowe. It was the established playwright Fletcher, however, who became his mentor and collaborator and it is now thought that he was joint author in no less than twenty of the so-called Fletcher plays.

From Quiz The Classics of English Literature 1

Answer: Almeria

William Congreve (1670-1729), although born at Bardsey near Leeds, was mainly educated in school in Ireland and at the University of Dublin where he was a contemporary and friend of Swift. His first play 'The Old Bachelor' (1693) was welcomed by Dryden and others as a work of comedic genius. He was regarded by many as being out of the same literary stable as Sheridan and Wilde which is high praise indeed.

From Quiz The Revamped Classic Book Mash

Answer: Jim Casy

The other three choices are from George Orwell books. Jim Casy was a former preacher who also went with the Joad family on their trek to California. Later in the trip, Tom hit a policeman. Casy took the blame because he felt he had nothing to live for, while Tom had everything to live for.

From Quiz Classical Classics

Answer: Ghosts

The story takes place mainly at a country house named Bly, and the main characters are a governess, a maid named Mrs. Grose and two young children, Miles and Flora. There are two ghosts, one seemingly attached to each child, one the former governess, Miss Jessel, who is attached to Flora and the other a former valet, Mr. Quint, who is attached to Miles.

From Quiz Random Classics

Answer: Sobakevich

Indeed it is said that he was a veritable bear. The rest of his name, Mikhailo Semyonich, actually contains the Russian name for bear ie: mikhail/mikhailo.

From Quiz Classic Authors - Lesser-Known Works

Answer: Pnin

"Papillon" is the story of author Henri Charriere's daring escape from imprisonment in French Guiana, "Sanctuary" is William Faulkner's brutal novel about a group of people who come together and do horrible things in Tennessee, while "Another Country" is a fiery work by James Baldwin dealing with racism and sexual boundaries.

From Quiz Mixed Classics

Answer: Mycroft

All of the Sherlock Holmes stories are very interesting and fun to read. Sherlock lived on Baker Street with his friend Watson.

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