Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 2000
Who is the author of the autobiography that includes the nonfiction work 'The Heart of a Woman,' which was the first nonfiction selection for Oprah's Book Club?
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maya angelou
Which Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem is subtitled 'Or, a Vision in a Dream, A Fragment'?
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kubla khan
In Shakespeare, who had a barge with sails 'so perfumed that the winds were love-sick with them?'
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cleopatra
Who is the Bombay-born author whose first novel was 'The Light That Failed'?
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rudyard kipling
In which Shakespeare play does Lucius Andronicus become emperor of Rome by the end?
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titus andronicus
Which author wrote the novel where Dr. Jekyll experiences a transformation and becomes a dwarf?
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robert louis stevenson
Who is the Italian professor that authored the 1994 novel 'The Island of the Day Before'?
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umberto eco
In which country did Henry Miller write his first important book, 'Tropic of Cancer'?
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france
Who wrote the essay 'Life Without Principle' after returning from Walden Pond?
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henry david thoreau
Which animal in Aesop's fables was later saved by a mouse after freeing it from a trap?
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lion
Which poet, who authored 'The New Spoon River' in 1924, was once a law partner of Clarence Darrow?
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edgar lee masters
Who is the former Duke of Milan and now the magician-ruler of a remote island in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'?
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prospero
Who is King Lear's oldest daughter in Shakespeare's play?
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goneril
Which author referred to his book 'The Andromeda Strain' as an updating of 'The War of the Worlds'?
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michael crichton
In which state did the event that inspired Truman Capote's nonfiction novel 'In Cold Blood' take place?
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kansas
Who is the founder of Ms. magazine who writes on self-esteem in her new book 'Revolution from Within'?
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gloria steinem
Who is listed as the winner for fiction in 1926 despite turning down the Pulitzer Prize for 'Arrowsmith'?
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sinclair lewis
According to Cervantes in 'Don Quixote,' what sensation is described as 'the best sauce in the world'?
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hunger
Which poet moved to Chicago in 1912 and later joined the staff of the Chicago Daily News?
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carl sandburg
Which author, famous for the bestseller 'Roots,' passed away in 1992 at the age of 70?
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alex haley
Who is the writer best known for his Uncle Remus stories and was a staff member of the Atlanta Constitution for 24 years?
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joel chandler harris
Which author wrote about Jews in 'Exodus', Muslims in 'The Haj', and Protestants and Catholics in 'Trinity'?
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leon uris
Who wrote the bestselling nonfiction book 'Me: Stories Of My Life' in 1991?
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katharine hepburn
Which author's book, 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', was partly inspired by a suggestion from Lord Mountbatten?
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agatha christie
In the play 'Richard II' by Shakespeare, which famous royal castle west of London is the setting for the last scene?
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windsor castle
Which author, born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1850 and died in Samoa in 1894, is known for works such as 'Treasure Island'?
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robert louis stevenson
What title is shared by Christopher Marlowe's most famous poem, 'The Passionate' _______ 'to His Love'?
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shepherd
What title process does Gregor Samsa undergo in Franz Kafka's 1915 story?
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metamorphosis
Which poet wrote, 'My apple tree will never get across and eat the cones under his pines' in 'Mending Wall'?
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robert frost
In Sue Grafton's alphabet series, what word follows 'A is for' in her first book?
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alibi
Which poet first published her novel, 'The Bell Jar', under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas?
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sylvia plath
In 'A Shropshire Lad', what did the speaker hear a wise man advise not to give away when he was one-and-twenty?
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heart
Which author ceased writing novels after completing 'Jude the Obscure' but went on to publish a vast number of poems?
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thomas hardy
What was the name of the attorney featured in Erle Stanley Gardner's last novel, 1973's 'The Case of the Postponed Murder'?
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perry mason
Which author wrote the novel that was the basis for the 1934 play 'Dodsworth', starring Walter Huston?
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sinclair lewis
Which author, known for her supernatural novels, wrote 'The Witching Hour,' which has been adapted into comic books?
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anne rice
Who is the poet that wrote 'Chicago Poet' for the 1918 collection 'Cornhuskers'?
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carl sandburg
What did Edna St. Vincent Millay cynically describe as not being all, not meat nor drink nor slumber nor a roof against the rain?
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love
In which Philip Roth novella do Neil Klugman and Radcliffe girl Brenda Patimkin have a summer love affair?
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goodbye, columbus
Which poet completed the sonnet 'On His Blindness' around 1655 and one titled 'On His Deceased Wife' in 1658?
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john milton
In which Karel Capek play do the characters Sula and Helena appear as robotesses?
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r.u.r.
Which heroine from a novel by Daniel Defoe is known only by an alias, with her real name never being revealed?
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moll flanders
Which work by Ray Bradbury begins with the line, 'It was a pleasure to burn'?
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fahrenheit 451
Which authors novel, 'Les Miserables,' concludes with events in the Pere-Lachaise Cemetery?
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victor hugo
In which Shakespearean play does the character Cordelia, the youngest daughter, refuse to flatter her father like her sisters?
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king lear
Which poet's classic 1946 poem 'Fern Hill' was inspired by a relative's farm in Wales?
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dylan thomas
Who tells his daughter Cordelia 'I fear I am not in my perfect mind'?
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king lear
Which late children's book author made the bestsellers list in 1995 with the book 'Daisy-Head Mayzie'?
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dr. seuss
What author of 'Brideshead Revisited' saw his career rise with the publication of his first novel, 'Decline And Fall'?
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evelyn waugh
Who is the author of the historical novel 'Romola'?
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george eliot
Which author, known for writing 'Veil' and 'Wired' on his own and co-authoring 'All The President's Men' with Carl Bernstein, is this?
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bob woodward
Which author wrote the line 'Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand' in the novel 'Silas Marner'?
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george eliot
Who is the author of 'The Tale of the Body Thief,' the fourth book about the vampire Lestat?
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anne rice
What book is remembered as a stomach-turning expose of unsanitary conditions in the meat-packing industry?
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jungle
What item belonging to the Mad Hatter has butter in it, is 2 days slow, and is dipped in tea by the March Hare in 'Alice in Wonderland'?
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watch
Which British children's author wrote 'The Sly Old Cat' in 1906, though it wasn't published until 1971?
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beatrix potter
In which Shakespearean play do the characters Rosencrantz & Guildenstern nearly always appear together?
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hamlet
In which Shakespeare play does Prospero's first line state, 'Be collected - no more amazement'?
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tempest
Which author, known for writing the Oz series, sometimes wrote books for boys under the pen name Captain Hugh Fitzgerald?
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l. frank baum
Who was paid 200 pounds in 1726 for his tale of Lemuel Gulliver?
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jonathan swift