Literature by Region Trivia

1. What does Flosi give Eyjolf to persuade him to aid his case at the Althing?

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": Kari's Vengeance

Answer: A gold ring

Snorri the Priest, also called Snorri Godi, realizes what's happened and warns Eyjolf that this gift, and the alliance he made through it, might cost him his life. This Snorri is the son of Thordis, Gisli Sursson's sister (from "Gisli's Saga"). He is one of many characters to appear in multiple sagas: he also appears in "Laxdale Saga" and "Eyrbyggja Saga". His grandfather is Thorstein Codbiter, who appears in "Eyrbyggja Saga" and is mentioned in "Gisli's Saga".

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": The Burning

Answer: Kari Solmundarson

Kari is originally from the Hebrides, which are off the western coast of Scotland, while Orkney rests off its northern coast. He accompanies Njal's sons back to Iceland, marries one of Njal's daughters, and becomes a major player in the story.

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": Slayings and Atonements

Answer: Hallgerd

Hallgerd is an expert at manipulating men, which she does by appealing to their egos. All she has to do is imply that he's not brave, and most men will do whatever she asks. She goads her bondsman Kol into killing Bergthora's thrall Svart while the latter is chopping wood. In a line worthy of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kol says, "You're not the only one who can chop hard" and kills Svart with an axe. This starts a slew of killings in which each woman gets back at the other by sending another man to kill the one who just killed her servant or kinsman, always during the Althing when their husbands are away.

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": Prelude to a Feud

Answer: Thief's

A violence-filled saga begins with a domestic scene of children playing. As they play, Hrut tells Hallgerd's father Hoskuld that he wonders how thief's eyes came into the family. The accusation of thievery in medieval Iceland was a heavy one, and men could be penalized for falsely accusing another, so insulting a child, and by extension her father, is a risky move for Hrut. Hallgerd's name is also spelled Hallgerdr or Hallgerð. Many men will chase after her because of her beauty.

From Quiz Japanese Literature Explored

Answer: Martial arts

"The Book of Five Rings" are Miyamoto Musashi's teachings of Japanese swordsmanship and martial arts. He was an expert swordsman and holds the record of winning 61 duels! He used a two-hand technique, wielding a sword of some type in each hand. The book is separated into five small books of the five elements: earth, water, fire, wind and void. He discussed strategy with both technique and Buddhist philosophies in his writing. Self-control, practice, hard work and perseverance are constants in his writings and prove valuable in today's world. Jaknginger meditated about this question before entering into the PR Red Crew's team quiz.

From Quiz The Feminine Mystique of Japanese Literature

Answer: The Tale of Genji

"The Tale of Genji" is considered to be a preeminent novel of Heian fiction written between about 1000 and 1012 AD. It tells the story of Hikaru Genji, the son of a Japanese emperor and a low-ranking concubine. He is removed from the line of succession by his father and made a commoner. He then pursues a career as an imperial officer. It may be the world's first novel, the first psychological novel (one that focuses on the inner thoughts of the characters), and is still considered a classic of Japanese literature. Murasaki Shikibu is a descriptive name and not the author's real name. She may have been Fujiwara no Kaoriko. At the time women were excluded from learning Chinese, the language of government, but she took advantage of her father's position and learned it anyway. She also wrote "The Diary of Lady Murasaki", a volume of poetry. "The Tale of Genji" was considered a classic within a century of its publication. This question was written originally in kanji then translated into English by Phoenix Rising member tazman6619 (he wishes).

From Quiz Kilted Kanga's Homeland Literature

Answer: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" starred Dick Van Dyke and has become a children's favourite. Cubby Broccoli who produced the Bond films also produced this one. Submitted by scotsbluebell

From Quiz New Zealand Authors

Answer: Margaret Mahy

Margaret Mahy was a children's author born in Whakatane, New Zealand. Her stories 'A Lion in the Meadow', 'The Seven Chinese Brothers' and 'The Man Whose Mother was a Pirate' are considered national classics in New Zealand.

From Quiz Famous First Words: European Literature

Answer: "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust

Proust's mammoth novel is awesome, in the true sense of the word. Despite its length, it's actually an accessible read for anyone who loves words and the art of the novel. In his "Lectures On Literature", literary luminary Vladimir Nabokov talks about Proust's style as "a wealth of metaphorical imagery, layer upon layer of comparisons. It is through this prism that we view the beauty of Proust's work. A tendency to fill in and stretch out a sentence to its utmost breadth and length, to cram into the stocking of the sentence a miraculous number of clauses, parenthetic phrases, subordinate clauses, sub-subordinate clauses. Indeed in verbal generosity he is a veritable Santa."

From Quiz Eastern Literature

Answer: Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore wrote mostly in the language Bengali. He sought to better understand the differences between Eastern and Western religions.

From Quiz Women of the Icelandic Sagas

Answer: Unn the Deepminded

The historical Unn Ketillsdottir, called "the Deepminded" (djúpúdhga), was surely a most remarkable woman. Unn was a widow when she left Norway for a new life in Scotland, accompanying her redoubtable father Ketill Flatnose and bringing with her her son Thorstein. It is related that Ketill so harried the Scots that they gave him half of all Scotland in exchange for peace. When the Scots broke their oaths of peace and slaughtered both Ketill and Thorstein, Unn coolly and rationally planned her own departure for Iceland; of her departure the Laxdaela saga-writer states that "scarce may an example be found that any one, a woman only, has ever got out of such a state of war with so much wealth and so great a following" so evidently she not only planned well but also executed her plan effectively. Once in Iceland she claimed *vast* tracts of land for herself, and then parceled the land out both generously and wisely to her followers, several of whom were freed slaves. The saga-writer is, as is typical of the genre, quite elliptical on this point, but reading between the lines it is easy to speculate that these erstwhile slaves cum landowners were fiercely loyal to their benefactress and her kin, which is probably why the descendants of Unn continued to dominate the region after her death. Unn died old, and with style. Indeed, the story of how she died was repeated for centuries after her death in approximately 920 CE until it was written down in the saga 325 years later. Apparently she threw a huge and lavish party, and at its peak she announced that she was leaving everything she had to her favorite grandson. She then left the grandson Olaf in charge of the party, and went to her chamber to sleep. The next day Olaf found her sitting up straight in bed, dead: "She walked at a quick step out along the hall, and people could not help saying to each other how stately the lady was yet. They feasted that evening till they thought it time to go to bed. But the day after Olaf went to the sleeping bower of Unn, his grandmother, and when he came into the chamber there was Unn sitting up against her pillow, and she was dead. Olaf went into the hall after that and told these tidings. Every one thought it a wonderful thing, how Unn had upheld her dignity to the day of her death." Unn was given the fullest funerary honors known to Nordic culture, burial in a ship, a form typically reserved for the most powerful chieftains: "So they now drank together Olaf's wedding and Unn's funeral honors, and the last day of the feast Unn was carried to the howe that was made for her. She was laid in a ship in the cairn, and much treasure with her, and after that the cairn was closed up." [All quoted material above is from the 1899 Muriel Press translation of Laxdaela Saga, and is in the public domain.]

From Quiz World Literature

Answer: Gogol

Pasternak did 'Dr. Zhivago'. Sholokhov did 'And Quiet Flows The Don'.

From Quiz Scandinavian Writers

Answer: Fairy Tales

He wrote many stories for young children.

From Quiz English and American Literature

Answer: G.B. Shaw

It was Super writer G.B.S.

From Quiz British and American Lit

Answer: Ezra Pound

Pound drew a big red X through just about all of the 'Death By Water' section, saying 'You don't need all this'.

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": Kari's Vengeance

Answer: A fight breaks out and many men die.

As a neutral ground where marriages are brokered, wares are bought and sold, and cases are heard by judges, the Althing is a place of peace, and fights are strongly discouraged. Many are killed, including Eyjolf, who took the bribe from Flosi. The rain of burning blood happens later in the saga.

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": The Burning

Answer: He was curing someone's backache.

He is having an affair with Gudrun, his host's daughter, and kills Asvard, who comes upon them alone. The earl declares him an outlaw, but Hrapp hides among cargo and flees to Iceland, where he takes up with Hallgerd.

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": Slayings and Atonements

Answer: Dungbeards

As Njal can't grow a beard, Sigmund insults him by suggesting that he and his sons have to use dung to stimulate beard growth. Hallgerd uses this insult herself later in the saga. Sigmund is the sixth to die in the feud. Since Sigmund uses an insult that a man can be legally killed for saying, Gunnar doesn't seek atonement or revenge for his death at the hands of Skarphedin.

From Quiz Japanese Literature Explored

Answer: Geisha

Iwasaki started her training at age 5, moving into the geisha house and by age 10 she was named as the heir and future owner. Her memoir is entitled 'Geisha, A Life' in the US and 'Geisho of Gion' in the UK. She was one of the women interviewed by the author of 'Memoirs of a Geisha', whom she later sued for invasion of privacy and breach of contract for revealing her name in the acknowledgements. She retired from the life of the geisha at age 29, shutting the house. As detailed in the book, she felt suffocated by many of the traditions, and sought greater independence. Red Crew's pusdoc gracefully put this question into its place.

From Quiz The Feminine Mystique of Japanese Literature

Answer: Shimizu Shikin

"The Broken Ring" details the awakening of a young woman who manages to extricate herself from an unhappy marriage. The work is significant as it details the views held by Japanese society, at the time, of unmarried women and their duty. It shows society confused by the concept, but Shikin, despite the upset it causes, has her heroine move forward with head held high. Her protagonist challenges the social norms, knowing that continuing to do so will come at great personal cost. Shimizu Shikin was born in 1868, fittingly, the first year of the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Blessed with a strong desire to effect societal reform, she wrote on her own terms, championing women's rights and campaigning against racial and gender discrimination. For her, writing became a way of standing up, in a time when Japanese women were prohibited from political assembly. This question was written by Phoenix Rising's pollucci19 who takes his hat off to this author.

From Quiz European Literary Highlights

Answer: Nikos Kazantzakis

Kazantzakis was born in 1883 on the island of Crete. Some of his works include "Zorba the Greek" (hence the Zorbing hint!), "Christ Recrucified", "Captain Michalis" and "The Last Temptation of Christ". The "Report to Greco" is an autobiography. Question supplied by gme24.

From Quiz New Zealand Authors

Answer: Whale Rider

Filmed in 2002, this was about a girl who had to fight against sexism as she wanted to be the leader of her tribe, which is reserved only for males.

From Quiz Israeli Novelists

Answer: His mother's suicide

Amos Oz was born in 1939 in Jerusalem. The author of numerous works of both fiction and non-fiction, he has been awarded both the Israel Prize for Literature and the Goethe Prize. His autobiography, "A Tale of Love and Darkness", has been beautifully translated by Nicholas De Lange. Oz's biography is sometimes funny, sometimes moving, and contains some marvelous descriptions of Jerusalem. However, underlying the entire work is the tremendous personal tragedy suffered by Oz, an only child, at the age of twelve. His sensitive and creative mother, plagued for years by depression, put an end to her own life.

From Quiz The Tale of the Heike

Answer: Seppuku/Harakiri

Although Seppuku would become more ritualized later on, the basics are all here: the piercing of the stomach to cause death, the death poem, even the second who eases his master's pain.

From Quiz Eastern Literature

Answer: Omar Khayyam

The "Rubáiyát" was translated by Edward FitzGerald in 1859. It contained about 1000 specialized quatrains.

From Quiz World Literature

Answer: Argentina

From Quiz Scandinavian Writers

Answer: The Theory of The Leisure Class

It had impact in its day.

From Quiz English and American Literature

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

From Quiz British and American Lit

Answer: Slaughterhouse-Five

One of the most amazing books ever written

From Quiz "Njal's Saga": The Burning

Answer: On an icy river

Skarphedin (spelled in other translation as "Skarp-Hedin") slides along the ice as though he were wearing skates, cleaves Thrain's head with an axe (sending his teeth flying out), jumps over a shield, and slides to a stop stylishly. It's one of many scenes that confirms my suspicions that medieval Icelanders would have loved 1980s action movies. Skarphedin keeps at least one of Thrain's teeth as a keepsake, for it makes an appearance in perhaps the saga's most famous scene.

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Last Updated Apr 22 2024 10:58 AM

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