Women of Literature Online Trivia | Literature: Something in Common

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Many of us enjoy novels from all centuries. However, do you know who is credited with writing the very first novel, "The Tale of Genji"? It is still considered one of the greatest novels ever written.

Answer: Lady Murasaki Shikibu

Lady Murasaki Shikibu (976-1031 BCE) was a court attendant to Empress Akiko of Japan. Her book is a romance and presents the customs of the aristocratic society of the time.

Quzdaire, 10th Century, BCE, first woman poet and very highly regarded. Hrotsvitha, 935-973 BCE, considered the first female writer from German lands, first female historian and poetess.
Li Qingshao, (1084-1155 BCE) considered one of China's greatest poets.

2. All the following were abolitionists, but which woman was greeted by President Abraham Lincoln with: "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war"?

Answer: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Beecher's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", published in 1852 was a very influential book that looked into the lives of slaves and the many injustices of slavery.

Wheatley was a captured slave who was brought to the US and became a well-known poet who to published need the stamp of authenticity signed by well-know men. Her birth date is unknown since was a slave but she died in 1784.
Tubman was a slave who escaped from slavery and created the Underground Railroad to help other slaves escape. Birth date unknown.
Sojourner Truth (1787-1883) was a abolitionist, writer and speaker.

3. Many Americans learned to cook using one specific and well-cherished cookbook. To date it has sold almost 20 million copies since 1936 with its simple, easy to follow, well-written and presented recipes. The name of the book is "The Joy of Cooking", and who was its author?

Answer: Irma Rombauer

Irma S. Rombauer (1877-1962) wrote the cookbook to support herself after her husband committed suicide in the Depression. She was not trained as a cook, but was a home cook who wished to write a cookbook for every woman.

Fannie Farmer (1857-1915) was a very popular cooking expert who published several books about cooking.

Julia Childs (1912-2004) was an expert chef and co-author of one of the most impressive cookbooks ever, "The Art of French Cooking". She is one of the most well-known cooks of all time with her television show, books and other activities.

Mollie Katzman has written and illustrated a number of cookbooks, including "Moosewood Cookbook" (1977) and "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest" (1982).

4. One of the most constantly revived dramas is "A Raisin in the Sun". Who wrote this excellent play?

Answer: Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry's (1930-1965) "A Raisin in the Sun" has been revised to great reviews for decades after her untimely death from pancreatic cancer at age 35. Most recently it was revised on Broadway in 2014 and won three Tony Awards. Her play was the first by an African American produced on Broadway. She was a civil rights worker and radical.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) is one of the best writers, civil rights advocates and poets of all time. Her most popular book is her first (although many follow that are more than worthy of attention), "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings".
Toni Morrison (1931-2019), one of our greatest writers, won many awards and perhaps first among these is the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. Her debut novel was "The Bluest Eye" (1970), a recommended place to start reading all of her brilliant books.
Tracy Chapman (1964-) is a well-regarded singer and songwriter. Think the Grammies and "Fast Car."

5. Many people think of the feminist movement as a relatively new occurrence. Not so. In which year did Mary Wollstonecraft pen "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman"?

Answer: 1792

Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was an educator, writer and socially passionate advocate of women's rights. Her work is still a feminist classic. Mary was also a radical who had many lovers (of both genders) and lived a quite unconventional lifestyle. No wonder she is still a feminist icon! She died in childbirth because the doctor did not wash his hands and infected her, causing her death.

By the way, that wee babe Mary had was Mary Shelley, author of the famous gothic horror "Frankenstein".

6. Who is the first Englishwoman known to have supported herself with her writing?

Answer: Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was a British dramatist, poet and novelist of "Oroonoko". She was a very popular writer.

Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, the daughter of pioneering feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, wrote the ever popular "Frankenstein" in 1818. She was married to Percy Bysshe Shelley whom she promoted and assisted in his work before his untimely death at an early age.
George Sand (1804-1876), a French woman who was born Amanitine Lucile Aurora Dupin, was a widely popular novelist and playwright. She had many affairs with important men of the time, such as Chopin, as well as the actress Maire Dorval. Her choice of attire in public was men's wear.

7. Authors are sometimes famous and read by many in their own times, but don't always maintain this in later decades. Some books such as "My Antonia" and "Death Comes to the Archbishop" are still read and well-regarded in school English classes. Who wrote these two works, as well as "One of Ours", which won a Pulitzer in 1923?

Answer: Willa Cather

Lesbian Willa Cather (1873-1947) wrote vividly about the American prairie. She is regarded as one of America's best novelists.

Fannie Hurst (1889-1968) was a romantic, sentimental and social critic who addressed issues of women's rights and racism. In the 1920s she was one of the highest paid authors of either gender. "Back Street" is one of her most well-known novels. Quote often heard in the last part 20th Century into today's issues: "A woman has to be twice as good as a man to go half as far."
Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was born in Russia and immigrated to the US. She wrote against the Russian communist rule and embraced individualism and capitalism. Her work "The Fountainhead" is still popular today.
Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980) was a Pulitzer Prize winner for her writing and journalism. "Ship of Fools" (1962) is one of her best known works. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times but did not win.

8. Only 16 women won the Nobel Prize in Literature in its first 120 years, less than 15% of the total awarded. In which year was the first Nobel award to a woman?

Answer: 1909

Selma Lagerl�f (1858-1940), Swedish writer of many books and teacher, won in 1909. The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901. The next year that saw a woman win the award was 1926.

9. Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) was a writer of children's books which are still very popular, an illustrator of nature, a natural scientist and a conservationist. Her first book, which was self-published, is still read around the world to the delight of many children and adults. What is the name of that book?

Answer: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

"The Tale of Peter Rabbit" was self-published in 1901 after having been turned down by several publishers. In 1902 a publisher did publish it and the following many wondrous tales of bunnies, hedgehogs, and other charming animals. The other three titles are made up.

10. Many wonderful films have been adapted from books although they don't all really capture the essence of the characters and the plot. A fine example of such an adaptation is "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969). The part of Miss Jean Brodie was played to great acclaim by Maggie Smith and she won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Jean Brodie in 1969. In 1998 the Modern Library ranked the "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1961) at 76th of the best novels of the 20th Century. Who is the author of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and other wonderful novels such as "Memento Mori"?

Answer: Muriel Spark

Scottish Muriel Spark (1918-2006) was a novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist.

Josephine Tey was a well-known Scottish writer best known for "The Daughter of Time" (1951), voted by the British Crime Writer's Association in 1990 as the greatest crime novel of all time.

Ruth Thomas is a Scottish writer (1967- ) who has won a number of awards for her writing.

Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897) was a prolific Scottish writer having published over 120 novels as well as works of literary criticism and histories.

Source: Author Annie75

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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Women of Literature Trivia Quiz

The writers of history have been especially poor at representing women in almost all fields. What follows in this quiz unveils a few of the most important women in literature throughout the centuries.

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