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Quiz about The Lyrical Wonder of  The Shipping News
Quiz about The Lyrical Wonder of  The Shipping News

The Lyrical Wonder of "The Shipping News" Quiz


The "Shipping" News" (1993) is a haunting, wonderful novel by Annie Proulx. Capturing its essence in a few quiz questions is almost impossible but here goes:-

A multiple-choice quiz by 1nn1. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
1nn1
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
363,143
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1753
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
Last 3 plays: piperjim1 (5/10), Aiyetoro (9/10), jackseleven (9/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Edna Ann Proulx had published one novel, one book of short stories and three non-fiction books before "The Shipping News" was released in 1993. What nationality is she?

Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. "The Shipping News" is rich in quirky characters. The protagonist is called or referred to as "Quoyle". What is his given name? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. While it could be argued the book is character-driven, there is a well-written plot. Trying to describe it would be difficult but which option describes it best? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. What is the name of the Newfoundland maritime village that Quoyle, his daughters and aunt move to, to start a new life? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Our protagonist is a "Newspaper Man from Upstate New York". When he migrates to Newfoundland, which newspaper offers him a job? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. The characters in this novel are drawn with a fine brush, described in detail, and most have quirky names. Which of the following character does not appear in the book? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Why was the allocation of car wreck stories and the shipping news to Quoyle, as a reporter, a turning point in the book? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. The "Shipping News", starring Kevin Spacey was made into a movie in 2001. Another story of Prouix's was made into a movie called "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005. "Brokeback Mountain", a short story, was from which subsequent book? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Finally, Quoyle can leave the spectre of his wife's death behind him as he falls in love with a local woman. What is her name? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. As a reflection of its capacity as a great novel, "The Shipping News" received the Pulitzer Prize in 1994.



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 18 2024 : piperjim1: 5/10
Feb 02 2024 : Aiyetoro: 9/10
Feb 01 2024 : jackseleven: 9/10
Feb 01 2024 : horadada: 5/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Edna Ann Proulx had published one novel, one book of short stories and three non-fiction books before "The Shipping News" was released in 1993. What nationality is she?

Answer: American

Edna Ann Proulx is an American citizen, born in Connecticut USA of ancestors of English and French-Canadian descent. She lived in Vermont for 30 years earning a B.A. in history from University of Vermont and an M.A. from Montreal. "The Shipping News" was her second novel ("Postcards" was published in 1992).

She previously wrote a collection of short stories in 1988 and three non-fiction books. This dual nationality role is reflected in the book which starts in Upstate New York and ends in Newfoundland.
2. "The Shipping News" is rich in quirky characters. The protagonist is called or referred to as "Quoyle". What is his given name?

Answer: It is never revealed

Quoyle is not a physically attractive man, plus he had low self-esteem, "All stemmed from Quoyle's chief failure, a failure of normal appearance.". The author adds to this mental picture by comparing his physical characteristics to inanimate, utilitarian objects, "His chin was like a shelf". Proulx explains before the book has started that "Quoyle" is a coil of rope. Further into the book, she explains, "A Flemish is a spiral coil of one layer only. It is made on
deck, so that it may be walked on if necessary". This is the status of Quoyle in Chapter one. People walk all over him. Toward the end the transformation of Quoyle's personality, (given in the opening chapter) is complete. He is still Quoyle but now resembles the sturdiness or strength of rope, something in which you can trust.
Quoyle has no first name, that is given at least, throughout the book. Half of a name connects him to his family, but does not delineate him as an individual. When he becomes editor of the paper, he precedes his last name with two initials, a signal that he has established a sense of self (finally). Note in the context of re-location to start a new life, the family went to Newfoundland. (Newfoundland = New Found Land).
3. While it could be argued the book is character-driven, there is a well-written plot. Trying to describe it would be difficult but which option describes it best?

Answer: Man with broken family relocates to remote place, struggles, finds peace

Quoyle's wife runs off with her lover and her two daughters. His wife and her lover are killed, his two daughters returned. His aunt persuades him to relocate to their ancestral home in a remote part of Newfoundland to start afresh. Page 47 quotes, "the old place of the Quoyles, half ruined, isolated, the walls and doors of it pumiced by stony lives of dead generations".
4. What is the name of the Newfoundland maritime village that Quoyle, his daughters and aunt move to, to start a new life?

Answer: Killick-Claw

All the options listed are knots. (All the chapters are named after knots). However the village on the Newfoundland coast is called Killick-Claw. The Quoyle House is situated on Quoyle Point, a place of steep cliffs, crashing seas and high winds. The house is cable-lashed to the cliff. At some point before Quoyle was born, the house had been dragged along the sea-ice from a neighbouring island.
5. Our protagonist is a "Newspaper Man from Upstate New York". When he migrates to Newfoundland, which newspaper offers him a job?

Answer: The Gammy Bird

"The Gammy Bird" editor, Jack Bugget, asks Quoyle to cover the car accidents ("We run a car wreck photo every week, whether we have a car wreck or not. That's our golden rule." Page 65) plus the shipping news which are the boats and ships that come into the port, each with their own story.
6. The characters in this novel are drawn with a fine brush, described in detail, and most have quirky names. Which of the following character does not appear in the book?

Answer: Petunia Pickelthwaite

Tert Card is a one of Quoyle's colleagues at "The Gammy Bird" as is Nutbeam, a British ex-pat who goes by his surname (We only find out his first name from Tert Card). Agnis Hamm is Quoyle's aunt who persuades him to relocate to Newfoundland.
7. Why was the allocation of car wreck stories and the shipping news to Quoyle, as a reporter, a turning point in the book?

Answer: It made him face his fears: Death of Petal (car crash) and the fear of drowning

Page 49, "...did not want a boat, shied from the thought of water. Ashamed he could not swim, couldn't learn." By facing his fears through necessity, as to keep his job, he effectively had to write about these fears, Quoyle started to develop some resilience. This was the start of Quoyle's redemption.
8. The "Shipping News", starring Kevin Spacey was made into a movie in 2001. Another story of Prouix's was made into a movie called "Brokeback Mountain" in 2005. "Brokeback Mountain", a short story, was from which subsequent book?

Answer: "Close Range: Wyoming Stories" (1999)

In 1994 after 30 years of living in Vermont, Prouix re-located to Saratoga, Wyoming, a very much different part of the US. She wrote three books, all containing short stories, all prefaced in the title as "Wyoming Stories". "Brokeback Mountain" was from the first of these books. The other options are novels she wrote but none were as successful as "The Shipping News".
9. Finally, Quoyle can leave the spectre of his wife's death behind him as he falls in love with a local woman. What is her name?

Answer: Wavey Prowse

Quoyle falls in love with Wavey Prowse. She has a son, Herry, with Down's Syndrome whom she loves dearly, which Quoyle notices as similar to the relationship he has with his own girls, Bunny and Sunshine. This final step, the falling in love shows the "healing" of Quoyle the man, and the last step away from Petal, his dead wife. (Cate Moore is a combination of Cate Blanchett who played Petal and Julie-Anne Moore who played Wavey, in the 2001 movie adaptation of the book).
10. As a reflection of its capacity as a great novel, "The Shipping News" received the Pulitzer Prize in 1994.

Answer: True

In 1994 "The Shipping News" received the Pulitzer Prize and US National Book Prize. This was the first time that one book had won the two awards since "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole in 1981. These prizes were a just reward for, in my opinion, one of the greatest books of the 20th Century.
Source: Author 1nn1

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