American Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 66
What profession is the subject of Sidney Kingsley's play 'Men in White,' which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1934?
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medicine
Which author, known for writing 'The Deerslayer', is credited with writing America's first spy novel, 'The Spy', set during the American Revolution?
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james fenimore cooper
Which novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne features a character wearing a letter 'A' on her gown?
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scarlet letter
Who was named U.S. Consul at Lyon, France, in the same year he published 'The Last of the Mohicans'?
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james fenimore cooper
Who wrote the 1940 novel 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' which is set near Segovia, Spain?
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ernest hemingway
What is the title of the Alex Haley work subtitled 'The Saga of an American Family'?
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roots
What did Philip Nolan lack in Edward E. Hale's story, which was written by a grandnephew of Nathan Hale?
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country
Which character from a Washington Irving story encounters a group of peculiar men playing ninepins during a walk?
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rip van winkle
Which American poet was inspired by Mrs. Marie Louise Shew to write about the bells that annoyed him?
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edgar allan poe
Which sequel to 'Tom Sawyer' did Ernest Hemingway claim all modern American literature originates from?
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huckleberry finn
Who is the author that collaborated with Malcolm X to write his autobiography?
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alex haley
Which 19th-century American author had a brother named Henry Ward Beecher who was involved in a sex scandal in 1874?
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harriet beecher stowe
Which author, who was also a lawyer, wrote the Perry Mason books?
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erle stanley gardner
Which American playwright wrote 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' featuring Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski?
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tennessee williams
Daniel Pierce Thompson wrote an 1839 novel about which group led by Ethan Allen?
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green mountain boys
In which state does 'Raintree County' open in 1892 before flashing back to pre-Civil War days?
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indiana
Who was the first to write an article about women's rights in America, in 1775, and also authored 'Common Sense'?
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thomas paine
Which American author met Zelda Sayre while stationed in Alabama in 1918 and married her two years later?
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f. scott fitzgerald
Who is the legendary fruit tree planter that was the subject of a work by Vachel Lindsay?
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johnny appleseed
Who is the author of 'A Rose For Emily' and 'The Sound and The Fury'?
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william faulkner
Which war serves as the backdrop for James A. Michener's novels 'The Bridges at Toko-Ri' and 'Sayonara'?
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korean war
Which poet from Illinois published the collection 'Slabs of the Sunburnt West' in 1922?
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carl sandburg
Who is the poet known for the poem 'Howl' and writing about the 'best minds of his generation destroyed by madness'?
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allen ginsberg
Which author wrote that in Oz he eliminated the stereotyped genie, dwarf, and fairy of old-time tales?
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l. frank baum
Who is the author that wrote 'History of New York' under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker?
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washington irving
Who is the avuncular title character that dies after a brutal beating in the 1852 American novel?
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uncle tom
Who is the Illinois poet known for writing what many consider the definitive biography of Abraham Lincoln?
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carl sandburg
Which American author based the storytelling characters in the book 'Tales of a Wayside Inn' on real people?
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henry wadsworth longfellow
Which Canadian-born author, who wrote the novel 'Herzog', won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976?
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saul bellow
What is the title of the Longfellow poem that features Manabozho, an Ojibwa hero?
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hiawatha
In what book does Jody learn that 'Love's got nothing to do with corn' after he kills his fawn?
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yearling
Who published 'Flappers and Philosophers', his first book of short stories, in 1920, the year he married Zelda?
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f. scott fitzgerald
Which American poet wrote the nearly 1,500-line long 'Song of Myself' celebrating himself?
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walt whitman
Who wrote 'The Masque of the Red Death' while working as an editor for Graham's Magazine?
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edgar allan poe
Who was dubbed the 'Moth of Amherst' and is probably America's best known 19th-century female poet?
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emily dickinson
In American literature, what is the name of the series of tales that begins with 'The Deerslayer' in sequence, even though it was the last to be written?
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leatherstocking tales
Which American author wrote the novel 'The Pathfinder,' subtitled 'The Inland Sea'?
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james fenimore cooper
Which poet, known for writing 'Howl', released a CD titled 'The Ballad of the Skeletons' in 1996?
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allen ginsberg
Who was the author whose only published novel was 'Gone with the Wind'?
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margaret mitchell
In which state does the novel 'The Grapes of Wrath' begin?
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oklahoma
Who published her first book of poetry, 'April Twilights', in 1903, 10 years before 'O Pioneers!'?
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willa cather
In which Ayn Rand novel is the conceited architect believed to be modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright?
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fountainhead
Which 1854 work by Thoreau is subtitled 'Or Life in the Woods'?
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walden
Which American author described a home in 'You Can't Go Home Again' that is actually on 11th Street, despite writing it as being on 12th Street?
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thomas wolfe
Which American author wrote the 1829 novel 'The Wept of Wish-Ton-Wish', featuring Chief Conanchet as a major character?
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james fenimore cooper
Who wrote the 'District of Columbia' trilogy and is also known for the 'U.S.A.' trilogy?
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john dos passos
Which author won the National Book Award in 1956 for his novel 'Ten North Frederick'?
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john o'hara
Which author wrote the collection of stories titled 'Mosses from an Old Manse,' considered one of the finest in American literature?
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nathaniel hawthorne
Who is the author of the first collection of stories titled 'The Troll Garden' and also wrote 'O Pioneers!'?
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willa cather
Which 1920 novel by Sinclair Lewis features the characters Carol Milford and Dr. Will Kennicott?
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main street
Who is the playwright of 'Deathtrap' who also authored the novels 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'A Kiss Before Dying'?
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ira levin
In which Washington Irving tale does he write, 'There was every hill and dale precisely as it had always been'?
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rip van winkle
Which James F. Cooper character is also known by the names Leatherstocking, Hawkeye, Long Rifle, and Deerslayer?
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natty bumppo
Who is the author of the first and last published Leatherstocking Tales, written 18 years apart?
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james fenimore cooper
Which poet's autobiography was partially reprinted in 1955 under the title "Prairie-Town Boy"?
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carl sandburg
Who is the author of the novel featuring the Key West smuggler Harry Morgan titled 'To Have And Have Not'?
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ernest hemingway
What Upton Sinclair novel concludes with the exclamation: 'Chicago will be ours! Chicago will be ours!'?
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jungle
Who is the author of the 1873 novel 'The Gilded Age', co-written by Charles Dudley Warner?
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mark twain
Who authored the scandalous bestseller 'Spoon River Anthology'?
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edgar lee masters
Which New England novelist, who shares a name with a spring-blooming plant, passed away in May 1864?
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nathaniel hawthorne
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