Fractured Twentieth Century British Novels Quiz

Answer: A Passage to India

"A Passage to India" was written by E M Forster and first published in 1924. It was voted as the 25th best book of the twentieth century by The Modern Library in their list of 100 best books.

Answer: Lord of the Flies

"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding was first published in 1954. Its somewhat disturbing plotline about a group of schoolboys stranded on an island was an attempt by Golding to understand and explain the horrors of WWII.

Answer: Nineteen Eighty-Four

George Orwell's disturbing vision of a totalitarian future was first published in 1949. I wonder what he would make of today's "Big Brother"?

Answer: Lady Chatterley's Lover

D H Lawrence first wrote "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in 1928 but owing to its strong language and explicit sexual content it was not published in Britain (and most other countries) until 1960. Its publication was only possible after a famous and controversial court ruling found in favour of Penguin Books.

Answer: Brideshead Revisited

"Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh was first published in 1945.
It appears in both the Time Magazine and The Modern Library's lists of top 100 novels of the twentieth century.

Answer: The Lord of the Rings

"The Lord of the Rings" by J R R Tolkien was first published (in three volumes) during the 1950s. It was a sequel to "The Hobbit" (1937).

Answer: Cider With Rosie

"Cider with Rosie" by Laurie Lee was first published in 1959. It it a largely an autobiographical account of his childhood in the Gloucestershire village of Slad.

Answer: A Clockwork Orange

"A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess was first published in 1962.
The Stanley Kubrick film of the book (1971) was condemned for its scenes of gratuitous violence. Kubrick instructed the distributors to withdraw the film from Britain and it did not become available for general viewing until 2000,after a gap of some 27 years.

Answer: Brave New World

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley was first published in 1932. It presents a frightening future of human genetic engineering, where the state controls virtually every activity and people have little or no choice in their lives.

Answer: Of Human Bondage

"Of Human Bondage" by William Somerset Maugham was first published in 1915. Although not strictly an autobiography it draws largely from the author's experiences as an orphan and his being brought up by an uncle.