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Quiz about Apocalypse When
Quiz about Apocalypse When

Apocalypse When? Trivia Quiz


The idea of an apocalyptic event bringing about the end of civilization as we know it has fascinated writers for longer than you might think. This quiz is about just ten of the most interesting examples of post-apocalyptic fiction.

A multiple-choice quiz by stedman. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
stedman
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
351,293
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1103
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: Guest 23 (6/10), Guest 165 (6/10), bradez (6/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Better known for a novel about a scientist who creates a creature out of body parts, who is the author of the 1826 novel "The Last Man"? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. The nineteenth-century British writer Richard Jefferies is best known for his writings about rural England, including the classic children's book "Bevis: the Story of a Boy". However, he also wrote a post-apocalyptic novel entitled "After ...". The name of which European capital city appears as the second word of the title? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. What is the apocalyptic event that has occurred prior to the main narrative of William Hope Hodgson's 1912 novel "The Night Land"? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Which American writer, better known for his novels set in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, also wrote a post-apocalyptic novel entitled "The Scarlet Plague"? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Which of the following novels by Nevil Shute (1899-1960) is set mainly in Australia and on board a submarine, in a world recently devastated by nuclear war? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. The action of this novel by Russell Hoban takes place in a land recognisable as the remains of the English county of Kent, devastated by a nuclear war. What is the narrator's name, which is also the title of the novel? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The central section of the six linked narratives in this 2004 novel by David Mitchell describes a post-apocalyptic world populated by a group of surviving humans on the Hawaiian Islands. What is the novel's name? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. What four-letter word completes the title of the novel by Cormac McCarthy, describing the wanderings of a man and his young son following an unspecified apocalyptic event? Its name is "The ..." - what?

Answer: (One Word, four letters)
Question 9 of 10
9. Which of the following British writers wrote the 2006 novel "The Book of Dave", set in a post-apocalyptic London devastated by rising sea levels? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. In the post-apocalyptic novel "Shades of Grey" by the English writer Jasper Fforde, what feature determines an individual's position in society? Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 23: 6/10
Mar 12 2024 : Guest 165: 6/10
Mar 11 2024 : bradez: 6/10
Feb 15 2024 : Guest 78: 8/10
Feb 08 2024 : Guest 109: 6/10
Feb 08 2024 : PurpleComet: 7/10
Jan 31 2024 : Guest 81: 6/10
Jan 28 2024 : Guest 50: 6/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Better known for a novel about a scientist who creates a creature out of body parts, who is the author of the 1826 novel "The Last Man"?

Answer: Mary Shelley

Published eight years after "Frankenstein", Mary Shelley's "The Last Man" is often claimed to be the first "post-apocalyptic" novel. It is set at the end of the twenty-first century, in a world devastated by a plague that is slowly killing off the whole population. At the time of its publication, critics were disturbed by its pessimistic tone and it was not well reviewed.
2. The nineteenth-century British writer Richard Jefferies is best known for his writings about rural England, including the classic children's book "Bevis: the Story of a Boy". However, he also wrote a post-apocalyptic novel entitled "After ...". The name of which European capital city appears as the second word of the title?

Answer: London

"After London", which was published in 1885, does not specify the nature of the disaster which causes England to become depopulated and the survivors to revert to a tribal way of life. It is most admired today for the first section of the book, which describes nature reclaiming the deserted towns and cities of England.
3. What is the apocalyptic event that has occurred prior to the main narrative of William Hope Hodgson's 1912 novel "The Night Land"?

Answer: Death of the Earth's sun

"The Night Land" was the last major work of William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918). It describes an Earth many millennia in the future, when the sun has gone out and a few surviving humans live together in a huge pyramid-like structure known as the "Last Redoubt", besieged by mysterious creatures.

The story was highly praised by H P Lovecraft, and for readers who can cope with the bizarre pseudo-archaic prose in which it is written, the power of Hodgson's imagination creates an unforgettable picture of strange, unseen horrors. An easier read, but equally imaginative and unsettling, is his shorter novel "The House on the Borderland".
4. Which American writer, better known for his novels set in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, also wrote a post-apocalyptic novel entitled "The Scarlet Plague"?

Answer: Jack London

Jack London is of course best known for his books "White Fang" and "The Call of the Wild". As the title implies, "The Scarlet Plague", published in 1912 and set in the year 2073, describes the aftermath of a devastating plague which has killed off most of humanity.
5. Which of the following novels by Nevil Shute (1899-1960) is set mainly in Australia and on board a submarine, in a world recently devastated by nuclear war?

Answer: On the Beach

During his lifetime, Nevil Shute was an extremely popular writer, and had an equally successful career as an aeronautical engineer. "On the Beach" is his only "science fiction" novel. Unlike many post-nuclear war novels which are set in the far future, Shute's is set in the immediate aftermath of the war, and takes the pessimistic view that there are unlikely to be any human survivors once the radioactive fall-out has spread around the Earth.
6. The action of this novel by Russell Hoban takes place in a land recognisable as the remains of the English county of Kent, devastated by a nuclear war. What is the narrator's name, which is also the title of the novel?

Answer: Riddley Walker

"Riddley Walker" is written in a broken form of English, and describes how the survivors of a nuclear war have created a society and mythology based on scavenged pre-war artefacts and stories handed down by word of mouth.

A number of writers of post-apocalyptic fiction have been attracted by the challenge of writing in a form of post-apocalyptic prose, showing how language as well as human society as a whole survives in a debased and altered form. This is a difficult trick to sustain for a whole book, and some manage it better than others. Despite the challenge this provides for the reader, "Riddley Walker" probably does it best.

The other options are all characters in "Turtle Diary", another novel by Russell Hoban.
7. The central section of the six linked narratives in this 2004 novel by David Mitchell describes a post-apocalyptic world populated by a group of surviving humans on the Hawaiian Islands. What is the novel's name?

Answer: Cloud Atlas

The section of "Cloud Atlas" entitled "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After" describes a world most of whose population has been destroyed by an unspecified apocalyptic event. The inhabitants of Hawaii have regressed to a pre-technologic tribal society, although they are visited occasionally by a ship whose crew retain the modern technology that the islanders have lost.

"Cloud Atlas" is structured like a chronological palindrome, consisting of six narratives which proceed in the order "1,2,3,4,5,6,5,4,3,2,1". Each of the stories in the second half of the novel proceeds from where its counterpart in the first half left off. The other options are the titles of three of these other sections; the other two are "Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery" and "An Orison of Sonmi-451".
8. What four-letter word completes the title of the novel by Cormac McCarthy, describing the wanderings of a man and his young son following an unspecified apocalyptic event? Its name is "The ..." - what?

Answer: Road

Until the publication of "The Road", Cormac McCarthy was probably best known for "historical" novels such as "Blood Meridian", "All the Pretty Horses" and "The Crossing", set in America's recent past. McCarthy's characteristically emotionless prose is perfectly suited to this bleak tale, and "The Road" won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A film version was released in 2009.
9. Which of the following British writers wrote the 2006 novel "The Book of Dave", set in a post-apocalyptic London devastated by rising sea levels?

Answer: Will Self

"The Book of Dave" describes a post-apocalyptic society whose religion and way of life is based on the writings of a deranged London tax-driver named Dave Rudman. The book alternates between an account of Dave's life in early twenty-first century London, and events in the year 523 AD (After Dave).
10. In the post-apocalyptic novel "Shades of Grey" by the English writer Jasper Fforde, what feature determines an individual's position in society?

Answer: Ability to see particular colours

The unspecified apocalyptic event that precedes the novel has in some way affected the ability of individuals to perceive colour. Those who cannot distinguish colours at all are known as "Greys", and are the lowest on the social ladder. Those who can see purple are at the top, with blue, green, yellow, orange and red in descending order in between. "Shades of Grey" is unusual among post-apocalyptic novels in that it has a strong vein of comedy running through it, although it is less obviously humorous than Jasper Fforde's other books such those in the "Thursday Next" and "Nursery Crime" series.

NB - Jasper Fforde's novel should not under any circumstances be confused with the very different "50 Shades of Grey" books by E L James.
Source: Author stedman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
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