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Literature and Authors Trivia Quiz

Some random literature facts. Some more random than others. Blame my English classes for filling my head with useless knowledge.

A multiple-choice quiz by CellarDoor. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
CellarDoor

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
113

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
20

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
12 / 20

Plays
14632

Awards
Top 5% quiz!

Last 3 plays: shorthumbz (19/20), lemonadecrush8 (19/20), AndyD1978 (20/20).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 20

1. Who wrote 'The Canterbury Tales'? Hint

Geoffrey Chaucer

Christopher Marlowe

William Shakespeare

William Faulkner

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Question 2 of 20

2. Who won a Nobel Prize for his novel 'Dr. Zhivago', but was forced by the Soviet government to turn it down?

Answer: (First and last name, or last name only)

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Question 3 of 20

3. Which of the following was written by Nobel prizewinning Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz? Hint

Riki-Tiki-Tavi

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

I, Rigoberta Menchu

Palace Walk

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Question 4 of 20

4. What German author won a Nobel Prize for literature in the 1990s? Hint

Helmut Kohl

Goethe

Thomas Mann

Guenter Grass

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Question 5 of 20

5. Which of Homer's works deals DIRECTLY with the Trojan War (not just its aftermath)?

Answer: (one or two words (the _____))

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Question 6 of 20

6. What play, starring a character named Viola, is William Shakespeare depicted as beginning at the END of the movie 'Shakespeare in Love' (NOT during the rest of the movie)? Hint

Romeo and Juliet

Twelfth Night

Hamlet

Richard III

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Question 7 of 20

7. Under what king's direction was the King James translation of the Bible developed? Hint

King James II of Wales

King James I of England

King James III of Scotland

The Tsar-Liberator of Russia

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Question 8 of 20

8. Who wrote the play 'A Doll's House', featuring Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald? Hint

Arthur Miller

Christopher Marlowe

Lope de Vega

Henrik Ibsen

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Question 9 of 20

9. In what language did Lope de Vega, one of the most prolific playwrights of all time, write his plays?

Answer: (One Word)

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Question 10 of 20

10. About whom did Abraham Lincoln say, 'So this is the little lady who started the big war'? Hint

Anne Sullivan

Mary Surratt

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Question 11 of 20

11. Who wrote 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'? Hint

Herman Melville

T.S. Eliot

William Blake

Samuel Coleridge

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Question 12 of 20

12. What famous children's book did L. Frank Baum write -- a book that would become the first of a series of fourteen?

Answer: (Four Words -- don't forget 'the'!)

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Question 13 of 20

13. What member of the Quiche people in Guatemala won the Nobel Peace Prize in part for her autobiography? Hint

Mother Teresa

Diana Spenser

Agnes Gonxhiu

Rigoberta Menchu

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Question 14 of 20

14. Who wrote the mock heroic poem 'Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes'? Hint

Jonathan Swift

Thomas Gray

Alexander Pope

Homer

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Question 15 of 20

15. What Shakespearean play is parodied in a scene in the Arnold Schwarzenegger flop 'Last Action Hero', widely criticized as rotten? Hint

Twelfth Night

Romeo and Juliet

As You Like It

Hamlet

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Question 16 of 20

16. What is Dr. Seuss's real name? Hint

Theodor Seuss Geisel

Seuss Truman Capote

James Seuss Thurber

Jack Kerouac Seuss

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Question 17 of 20

17. Who wrote the classic children's novel 'Matilda' and entitled his autobiography 'Boy'? Hint

George Sands

Roald Dahl

Rudyard Kipling

A. A. Milne

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Question 18 of 20

18. Whose 'On the Origin of Species' began a debate between science and religion that is still going on today? Hint

Charles Darwin

Clarence Darrow

John Scopes

Adam Smith

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Question 19 of 20

19. In a similar vein, the play 'Inherit the Wind' deals with what famous trial? Hint

Scopes monkey trial

Brown v. Board

Sweet trial

Plessy v. Ferguson

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Question 20 of 20

20. You're almost done! So pat yourself on the back and answer one last question: what was the name of the man who wrote the 'Divine Comedy' which included the famous 'Inferno'? Hint

Shakespeare

Dante

Bacon

Marlowe

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Most Recent Scores

Today : shorthumbz: 19/20
Apr 23 2024 : lemonadecrush8: 19/20
Apr 22 2024 : AndyD1978: 20/20
Apr 21 2024 : Guest 47: 11/20
Apr 20 2024 : WhiskeyZulu: 17/20
Apr 18 2024 : annie-g: 18/20
Apr 17 2024 : Guest 162: 7/20
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Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who wrote 'The Canterbury Tales'?

Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales' helped define the Middle English language, much as Dante Alighieri's 'Divine Comedy' did for Italian.

2. Who won a Nobel Prize for his novel 'Dr. Zhivago', but was forced by the Soviet government to turn it down?

Answer: Boris Pasternak

Pasternak was very disappointed by those orders.

3. Which of the following was written by Nobel prizewinning Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz?

Answer: Palace Walk

'Palace Walk' was the beginning of a multi-volume saga describing the lives of a Cairo clan, from World War I onward.

4. What German author won a Nobel Prize for literature in the 1990s?

Answer: Guenter Grass

Guenter Grass wrote about many Germans' refusal to face the facts of the Holocaust in their literature.

5. Which of Homer's works deals DIRECTLY with the Trojan War (not just its aftermath)?

Answer: The Iliad

The Iliad is the story of the clash of heroes at the end of the Trojan War.

6. What play, starring a character named Viola, is William Shakespeare depicted as beginning at the END of the movie 'Shakespeare in Love' (NOT during the rest of the movie)?

Answer: Twelfth Night

The movie alleges that the character of Viola in 'Twelfth Night' was inspired by Viola de Lessups, Shakespeare's movie love interest.

7. Under what king's direction was the King James translation of the Bible developed?

Answer: King James I of England

The Puritans were anxious for a less Catholic edition of the Bible, and King James I agreed, and ordered a committee of scholars to produce a new translation. (He was King James VI of Scotland from an early age, and then became King James I of England as well.)

8. Who wrote the play 'A Doll's House', featuring Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald?

Answer: Henrik Ibsen

9. In what language did Lope de Vega, one of the most prolific playwrights of all time, write his plays?

Answer: Spanish

De Vega was a contemporary of Miguel Cervantes, who wrote 'Don Quixote.'

10. About whom did Abraham Lincoln say, 'So this is the little lady who started the big war'?

Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', published in the 1850s before the Civil War, inflamed the North and infuriated the South.

11. Who wrote 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'?

Answer: Samuel Coleridge

12. What famous children's book did L. Frank Baum write -- a book that would become the first of a series of fourteen?

Answer: The Wizard of Oz

'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' -- usually reprinted under the name 'The Wizard of Oz' -- was the first of 14 Oz novels written by Baum.

13. What member of the Quiche people in Guatemala won the Nobel Peace Prize in part for her autobiography?

Answer: Rigoberta Menchu

In the last year, there has been a controversy as to whether her autobiography, 'I, Rigoberta Menchu' was fictionalized.

14. Who wrote the mock heroic poem 'Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes'?

Answer: Thomas Gray

15. What Shakespearean play is parodied in a scene in the Arnold Schwarzenegger flop 'Last Action Hero', widely criticized as rotten?

Answer: Hamlet

'Hamlet' is given an action-movie treatment in this scene near the beginning: 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark -- and Prince Hamlet is taking out the trash.'

16. What is Dr. Seuss's real name?

Answer: Theodor Seuss Geisel

17. Who wrote the classic children's novel 'Matilda' and entitled his autobiography 'Boy'?

Answer: Roald Dahl

Also authored 'Charlie And the Chocolate Factory' and 'James And The Giant Peach', he was married to actress Patricia Neal.

18. Whose 'On the Origin of Species' began a debate between science and religion that is still going on today?

Answer: Charles Darwin

Darwin gained the information supporting evolution by natural selection from his voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle. Some consider this scientific theory to be contrary to their religious beliefs.

19. In a similar vein, the play 'Inherit the Wind' deals with what famous trial?

Answer: Scopes monkey trial

John Scopes, the teacher tried for teaching evolution to his 1920s class, may not actually have taught evolution to his class.

20. You're almost done! So pat yourself on the back and answer one last question: what was the name of the man who wrote the 'Divine Comedy' which included the famous 'Inferno'?

Answer: Dante

It was Dante Alighieri.

Source: Author CellarDoor

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bullymom before going online.
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