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Quiz about Author Identification Style and Substance
Quiz about Author Identification Style and Substance

Author Identification: Style and Substance Quiz


Here are some snippets of information about authors and/or their works written in a way I hope will be reminiscent of their styles. Will this style and substance lead you to the author's identity? Play and see.

A multiple-choice quiz by uglybird. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
uglybird
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
230,704
Updated
Aug 31 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
5787
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: miranda101 (10/10), Guest 165 (6/10), Rtdbanker (8/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. He wrote the best of books, he wrote the worst of books, he imparted wisdom, he dispensed foolishness, we have devoured his books for pleasure, we have ploughed through them for classes - in short his books are so far like our own lives that literary authorities find difficulty unraveling them.

Who is this Victorian author, who is, for so many, the best of authors or the worst of authors?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. If you don't know about Tom and Huck, you probably ain't never read Sam's books. And that means you're hardly sivilized even if you are respectable and that's not stretching the truth too much. Like ol' Jim said, "I tole you, doan' talk to me bout bein' learn'd till you read dis man's books."

Which author are we being exhorted to read?
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "What's the Catch?" asked the New York Times.
"The best there is." agreed the public.
"Orr?" asked Yossarian.
"Sweden," confided the Chaplain.
And it was love at first sight.

In 1961, which of the following authors published a book that might have contained the dialogue above?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. He was an aging man who drank alone, and he had received numerous electroconvulsive shock treatments without curing his depression. But after so many treatments, his memory was damaged, the worst form of damage for an author. Hefting his shotgun, he placed it against his head and ended his most permanent defeat.

Which author best matches this passage in style and substance?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. O' thou vile faithless dishonest wretch! Will thou make cowardly pretense to need four bull-pizzling choices to identify whose style this elf-skinned, sodden witted quiz making hedge pig is trying to imitate? Just fill in the pribbling blank with my name.

Answer: (One Word)
Question 6 of 10
6. And so, having concluded Jane's story, in which Thornfield figured so prominently, the reader might ask what my own birth in Thornton, Yorkshire, England might signify: for surely, the book itself does not address this question. I assure you, dear reader, that such seeming coincidences are not accidental. In my youth, my own dear sister succumbed to the same wasting disease that Jane's dear friend Helen did; though my sister's death came after escaping the harsh conditions at Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, Lancashire, England, a dismal school whose conditions paralleled those Jane experienced at Lowood School.

Which author included autobiographical details in her story about Jane and Mr. Rochester?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The apparition made a poor attempt at nonchalance as he held the hourglass up to the light. "IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ THIS AUTHOR, YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO IT SOON," he advised.

Which author are you being admonished to read?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. It is melancholy to traverse the rows of cubicles and observe the hunched bodies and gaunt empty expressions of computer users. And yet, I have been assured by a knowing engineer from England that the energy released on combustion of several thousand of these unfortunates might provide light and heat for hundreds of souls for days. And so I offer this modest proposal ...

Which of the following authors seems most likely to propose ending the misery of cubicle workers in the fashion hinted at above?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "What sort of people did he amuse and why cucumber sandwiches?"

"My dear fellow, he wrote of sandwiches and champagne, confused identities and love. He employed wit and wordplay, and pointed counterpoint - but explained all in the end." Who could fail to be amused?"

"A delicious sort of Bunburyism, I suppose."

"And all in complete earnest."

Which of the following playwrights seems most likely to have written dialogue such as that above?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Beginning some time before the War, but not finishing until sometime after, there lived by the banks of the river Isis on the campus of Oxford a silver-tongued and nimble-minded professor of Anglo-Saxon who wrote of the brave adventures of little people and their involvement in matters of the great and wise; and of a certain object of great power, the longing for which drove even the wise to deeds both fell and rash.

To which of the following authors should this passage give you an "Inkling"?
Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Oct 07 2024 : miranda101: 10/10
Oct 05 2024 : Guest 165: 6/10
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Sep 15 2024 : Guest 94: 10/10
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Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. He wrote the best of books, he wrote the worst of books, he imparted wisdom, he dispensed foolishness, we have devoured his books for pleasure, we have ploughed through them for classes - in short his books are so far like our own lives that literary authorities find difficulty unraveling them. Who is this Victorian author, who is, for so many, the best of authors or the worst of authors?

Answer: Charles Dickens

I am convinced that I would love Dickens more had I been forced to read him less. Like Shakespeare, Dickens wrote to please an audience, and perhaps the faults school children and scholars alike find with his prose may be partially explained on that basis: his work resonated with his audience and his outlook mirrored theirs, not ours.

As one reads criticisms of today's popular authors (J. K. Rowling comes to mind), one wonders if resentment over popular and financial success might not have influenced the opinions of "better" but less widely read author-critics of Charles Dickens such as Virginia Woolf and Henry James.
2. If you don't know about Tom and Huck, you probably ain't never read Sam's books. And that means you're hardly sivilized even if you are respectable and that's not stretching the truth too much. Like ol' Jim said, "I tole you, doan' talk to me bout bein' learn'd till you read dis man's books." Which author are we being exhorted to read?

Answer: Samuel Clemens

Samuel Clemens achieved both literary success and immense popularity within his own lifetime: a characteristic shared by a number of authors in this quiz. Although Clemens published mostly under the pseudonym Mark Twain, at least one of his volumes, which was entitled "Date: 1601. Conversation, as it was the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors", was anonymous, and Twain did not acknowledge it until more than 25 years after it was first written in 1880.
3. "What's the Catch?" asked the New York Times. "The best there is." agreed the public. "Orr?" asked Yossarian. "Sweden," confided the Chaplain. And it was love at first sight. In 1961, which of the following authors published a book that might have contained the dialogue above?

Answer: Joseph Heller

"What's the Catch" was the tagline used in the New York Times advertisement for Joseph Heller's newly published novel, "Catch - 22". The narrative was disjointed, but became increasingly coherent as the plot unfolded. Perhaps one of the best kept secrets of the book was the reason Orr tried so desperately to convince his friend Yossarian to fly with him despite Orr's frequent crashes; why Orr stuffed his crabapple-cheeks with marbles every time he was tempted to just blurt out his plans to his friend. But, I won't spoil the secret for those who have not yet read this novel.
4. He was an aging man who drank alone, and he had received numerous electroconvulsive shock treatments without curing his depression. But after so many treatments, his memory was damaged, the worst form of damage for an author. Hefting his shotgun, he placed it against his head and ended his most permanent defeat. Which author best matches this passage in style and substance?

Answer: Ernest Hemingway

This paragraph above was modeled after the opening paragraph of "The Old Man and the Sea". Like most of Hemingway's work, there is a very sparing use of adjectives, a feature Hemingway credited, in part, to the influence of Ezra Pound. Sharing Pound and Hemingway's aversion to adjectives, Mark Twain quipped, ""When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don't mean utterly, but kill most of them - then the rest will be valuable!" Author J I Rodale once warned, "[The adjective] is the one part of speech first seized upon and worked to death by novices and inferior writers."
5. O' thou vile faithless dishonest wretch! Will thou make cowardly pretense to need four bull-pizzling choices to identify whose style this elf-skinned, sodden witted quiz making hedge pig is trying to imitate? Just fill in the pribbling blank with my name.

Answer: Shakespeare

Shakespearean insult sites abound on the Internet, including my favorite "http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/" where most of the insults come with specific textual references, e.g. " 'Thou'rt by no means valiant;For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork of a poor worm.' Taken from: Measure for Measure". If you prefer random, original insults generated from the Bard's repertoire of insulting terms you should visit "http://www.william-shakespeare.org.uk/a1-shakespearean-insults-generator.htm"
6. And so, having concluded Jane's story, in which Thornfield figured so prominently, the reader might ask what my own birth in Thornton, Yorkshire, England might signify: for surely, the book itself does not address this question. I assure you, dear reader, that such seeming coincidences are not accidental. In my youth, my own dear sister succumbed to the same wasting disease that Jane's dear friend Helen did; though my sister's death came after escaping the harsh conditions at Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, Lancashire, England, a dismal school whose conditions paralleled those Jane experienced at Lowood School. Which author included autobiographical details in her story about Jane and Mr. Rochester?

Answer: Charlotte Bronte

Charlotte Bronte wrote much of her early life into "Jane Eyre". The master of the school she actually attended was said to be the basis for headmaster at Lowood. As did Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte took a job as a governess after several years of teaching. The character of Mr. Rochester is presumed to be fictional.
7. The apparition made a poor attempt at nonchalance as he held the hourglass up to the light. "IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ THIS AUTHOR, YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO IT SOON," he advised. Which author are you being admonished to read?

Answer: Terry Pratchett

For the uninitiated, I should explain that repeated reader polls document that Death is Terry Pratchett reader's favorite character. However, those who have not read Pratchett's novels may have difficulty believing how sympathetic and lovable the Grim Reaper seems in a Discworld novel (Discworld being the imaginary world Mr. Pratchett has created for his humorous fantasy novels). To correct this deficiency, if present, I recommend reading "Mort", Terry's fourth Discworld novel.

Unabashed and unashamed, I declare myself to be not a mere reader of Terry Pratchett books, but in actuality, a fan of Terry Pratchett books with all that implies: attending book signings, ownership of a first edition of his first book, a trip from Redding, California to Leicester, England to attend a Discworld convention. So far, I detect no damage from this affliction... unless you count hearing voices in ALL CAPS.
8. It is melancholy to traverse the rows of cubicles and observe the hunched bodies and gaunt empty expressions of computer users. And yet, I have been assured by a knowing engineer from England that the energy released on combustion of several thousand of these unfortunates might provide light and heat for hundreds of souls for days. And so I offer this modest proposal ... Which of the following authors seems most likely to propose ending the misery of cubicle workers in the fashion hinted at above?

Answer: Jonathan Swift

Published as a pamphlet in 1729, Jonathan Swift's grim and heartless proposal to relieve Irish parents of their burdensome children while improving the food supply, successfully aroused indignation at the plight of his Irish countrymen while also arousing indignation at his heavy-handed use of satire.

Indeed, it is said to have nearly cost Swift his patronage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal).
9. "What sort of people did he amuse and why cucumber sandwiches?" "My dear fellow, he wrote of sandwiches and champagne, confused identities and love. He employed wit and wordplay, and pointed counterpoint - but explained all in the end." Who could fail to be amused?" "A delicious sort of Bunburyism, I suppose." "And all in complete earnest." Which of the following playwrights seems most likely to have written dialogue such as that above?

Answer: Oscar Wilde

Tom Stoppard's play "Travesties", which was patterned after "The Importance of Being Earnest", initially piqued my interest in Wilde's play. In Stoppard's play, the characters include dadaist Tristan Tzara and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and the action takes place in World War I Zurich. However, the absurd dialogue and intricate plot are certainly borrowed from Wilde.
10. Beginning some time before the War, but not finishing until sometime after, there lived by the banks of the river Isis on the campus of Oxford a silver-tongued and nimble-minded professor of Anglo-Saxon who wrote of the brave adventures of little people and their involvement in matters of the great and wise; and of a certain object of great power, the longing for which drove even the wise to deeds both fell and rash. To which of the following authors should this passage give you an "Inkling"?

Answer: J. R. R. Tolkien

While teaching at Oxford and writing of Middle Earth, Tolkien was a member of a group calling themselves the "Inklings". Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were the best known of the group which included more than twenty authors and academics. The Inkling's interest in and encouragement of fantasy was unusual if not unique for academic culture of their time. Meetings were held both in C. S. Lewis' rooms and in various pubs. Tolkien shared ideas and read passages of his developing trilogy to the group who in turned influenced its development.
Source: Author uglybird

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