Classic Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 185
What is the title of the Cervantes novel that includes the quote, 'A knight errant without a lady is like...a body without a soul'?
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don quixote
What is the title of the Dickens novel subtitled 'The Parish Boy's Progress'?
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oliver twist
Who is the author of the novel 'Bleak House', which includes the slang term 'gonof' for pickpocket and was popular in 1830s England?
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charles dickens
What is the name of the title character who gets shipwrecked on his third voyage in a 1719 book by Daniel Defoe?
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robinson crusoe
Which character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs 'lived on in his wild, jungle existence with little change for several years'?
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tarzan
In which 1897 novel can you find the line 'At sunrise the Count could appear in his own form'?
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dracula
Which Spanish literary character rides a bony old nag named Rocinante on his adventures?
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don quixote
Which literary character devotes himself to Aldonza Lorenzo, whom he calls Dulcinea Del Toboso, despite not actually being a knight?
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don quixote
Which literary character loses his shadow, teaches three siblings to fly, battles pirates, and refuses to grow up?
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peter pan
Which captain offers gold to anyone who can help him find a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow?
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captain ahab
Which Daniel Defoe novel, inspired by his own life, involves a shipwreck?
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robinson crusoe
Which literary character spends 24 years on a deserted island before meeting a person named Friday?
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robinson crusoe
Which book's first chapter states that 'There was unquestionably a Chuzzlewit in the Gunpowder Plot'?
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martin chuzzlewit
What term is used in the titles of works by Henry James and James Joyce, referring to one 'of a Lady' and one 'of the Artist as a Young Man'?
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portrait
Which Charles Dickens novel features the characters Wackford Squeers, Smike, and Kate Nickleby?
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nicholas nickleby
Which character from a Bram Stoker novel is described as having pointed ears and 'peculiarly sharp white teeth'?
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dracula
In which novel does the character Bill Sikes murder Nancy?
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oliver twist
Who wrote the lines, 'When what to my wondering eyes should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer'?
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clement clarke moore
Which Charles Dickens holiday story features the characters Dick Wilkins and Bob Cratchit?
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christmas carol
Which English author fictionalized his early love Maria Beadnell as Dora Spenlow, the first wife of David Copperfield?
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charles dickens
Which literary character rescues Friday from cannibals and later rescues Friday's father as well?
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robinson crusoe
Which character from a Charles Dickens novel was named by Mr. Bumble and is an orphan?
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oliver twist
In the Hans Christian Andersen tale, which character swims to the ocean's surface for the first time at age 15 and views the world above?
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little mermaid
What book features the character Jim Hawkins?
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treasure island
Which author dedicated 'Moby Dick' to his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne?
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herman melville
Which 1605 novel is rumored to have been partially written by Cervantes while he was in jail?
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don quixote
In which Edgar Allan Poe story is a document stolen from the royal apartments?
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purloined letter
In which 19th century novel does Long John Silver steal some of the booty and is never heard from again?
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treasure island
In which futuristic work by H.G. Wells is society divided between the Eloi and the Morlocks?
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time machine
In which novel does the character Jo March become a writer and marry Friedrich Bhaer, a middle-aged professor?
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little women
In which Nabokov novel is Humbert Humbert, a European emigre scholar, the protagonist?
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lolita
Who is chosen as the 'Prince of Fools' by Parisians in a Victor Hugo novel?
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quasimodo
What classic novel begins with the line, 'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents', grumbled Jo?
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little women
Who is the author of 'The Sun Also Rises', a novel first published in 1926 and considered one of his finest works?
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ernest hemingway
In Charles Perrault's version of this classic fairy tale, who is awakened by a prince's tender kiss?
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sleeping beauty
Which author wrote 'Jo's Boys,' the last novel in the saga of Jo March?
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louisa may alcott
In book 13 of 'Tom Jones,' to which metropolis does country boy Tom arrive, where the climactic action occurs?
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london
How many voyages did Sinbad the Sailor undertake in '1001 Arabian Nights'?
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7
What is the name of the character created by Frances Hodgson Burnett who is depicted growing up in her 1886 novel, not long before she wrote 'The Secret Garden'?
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little lord fauntleroy
In which novel does the character named Friday go to Europe and get scared when he sees snow for the first time?
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robinson crusoe
Who is Aunt Chloe's husband in the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel?
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uncle tom
What is the skillful nickname of Jack Dawkins in 'Oliver Twist'?
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artful dodger
Which literary character appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush?
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tom sawyer
In which Charles Dickens novel does the character Uriah Heep embezzle from Mr. Wickfield?
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david copperfield
Which Dickens orphan is taken to live at the main workhouse by Mr. Bumble on his ninth birthday?
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oliver twist
Who is the main character in the 1885 novel that begins with him living with the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson?
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huckleberry finn
Which Emily Bronte novel was published at the same time as Anne Bronte's 'Agnes Grey' in 1847?
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wuthering heights
What is the title of the March family saga that includes characters named Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy?
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little women
Who is the title teenager in a Shakespeare play who asks, 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet'?
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juliet
Who was the first person Robinson Crusoe heard after 25 years on the island?
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friday
What classic story was subtitled 'Or the Little Glass Slipper' in Perrault's version?
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cinderella
At what age did Charles Dickens begin the tale that features characters Fagin and Bill Sikes?
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oliver twist
In which 17th-century novel is Sancho Panza promised, and eventually gets, the governorship of his own island?
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don quixote
Which 14th century work concludes with 'The Parson's Tale', a section that addresses the 7 deadly sins?
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canterbury tales
What is the name of the French author who spent 5 years writing 'Madame Bovary,' which was published in 1857?
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gustave flaubert
Which hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs is referenced when describing muscular men known for their valor and prowess?
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tarzan
In the Christmas classic 'A Christmas Carol,' which character's ghost says, 'I wear the chain I forged in life'?
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jacob marley
In a famous work by Herman Melville, what kind of animal is Moby Dick?
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whale
Which Mark Twain title character became a detective in an 1896 sequel?
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tom sawyer
Who is the spinster that was left at the altar by Mr. Compeyson in 'Great Expectations'?
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miss havisham
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