Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 2000
Which author, apart from Rudyard Kipling, is known for creating the character Holly Golightly?
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truman capote
Who is the author of the quote in 'Candide,' 'If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are the others?'
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voltaire
Which George Orwell novel features a pig named Snowball who is known for his idealistic views?
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animal farm
Which French author published a new novel each year for 35 consecutive years, including 'From the Earth to the Moon'?
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jules verne
Which language is John Milton considered the last major European writer to have written poetry in?
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latin
Which American author wrote stories about a 20-year sleeper and a ghost rider, inspired by German folktales?
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washington irving
Which Pulitzer & Nobel prize-winning novelist had a home in pre-Castro Cuba named 'Finca Vigia'?
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ernest hemingway
Who is the author of the 1993 novel 'A Dead Man in Deptford' and also wrote 'A Clockwork Orange'?
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anthony burgess
Who is the author of 'The Newcomes', where Clive is an art student in love with his cousin Ethel?
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william makepeace thackeray
Who is Stradlater's roommate at Pencey Prep in 'The Catcher in the Rye'?
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holden caulfield
What poem features a Scandinavian prince who defeats the monster Grendel to save the Danes?
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beowulf
Which Shakespearean title character fascinated Desdemona with tales of people who have heads growing beneath their shoulders?
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othello
Who is the author of the semi-autobiographical novel 'The 'Genius', published in 1915, also known for writing 'Sister Carrie'?
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theodore dreiser
What did Wordsworth describe himself as wandering lonely like, floating on high over vales and hills in one of his poems?
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cloud
Which author, known for writing 'The Naked and the Dead,' criticizes the CIA in his recent best seller 'Harlot's Ghost'?
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norman mailer
Which playwright, known for writing 'Waiting For Godot', once taught French at Trinity College in Dublin?
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samuel beckett
Who is the author who wrote 'The Son of the Wolf' and 'The Sea-Wolf' and called his home 'Wolf House'?
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jack london
Which Melville title character's last words are 'God Bless Captain Vere!'?
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billy budd
In 'Romeo and Juliet', the prince of which Italian city is the last to speak?
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verona
Which author included the quote, 'One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other' in her novel 'Emma'?
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jane austen
Which 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty is partly based on a reported case of a child's demonic possession?
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exorcist
Who is the author often considered to have written the greatest novel 'My Antonia'?
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willa cather
Who is the author that published 'In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women' in 1973 and won a Pulitzer Prize 10 years later?
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alice walker
Which famous baseball player authored the book subtitled 'It Ain't Over...' that contains a collection of anecdotes?
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yogi berra
Which Tolstoy title heroine's last name had the final 'A' removed by translator Rosemary Edmonds?
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anna karenina
Which author, who wrote 'Return of the Native', had his first novel 'Desperate Remedies' published in 1871?
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thomas hardy
Which Welsh poet is known for his volume of short stories 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog'?
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dylan thomas
What novel features the characters Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and George Wilson?
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great gatsby
Who wrote the play 'Under Milk Wood' where the inhabitants and ghosts of a tiny Welsh village share their stories?
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dylan thomas
Who tells her husband, 'Your face, my thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters' in a Shakespeare play?
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lady macbeth
Which author wrote the poem 'Ulalume' in 1847, the same year his child bride died?
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edgar allan poe
What is the title of the 1845 poem by Edgar Allan Poe that is set in December at midnight in a chamber?
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raven
Who is the author of 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'?
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thomas hardy
Who authored the poem that ends with the line 'I lift my lamp beside the golden door'?
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emma lazarus
Who is the author of the first novel titled 'King Rat'?
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james clavell
What novel by Louisa May Alcott comes between 'Little Women' and 'Jo's Boys'?
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little men
Which author wrote 'Other Voices, Other Rooms' as their first published novel?
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truman capote
Who is the author whose first published novel was 'Scruples' in 1978?
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judith krantz
Which Mark Twain work was fourth on the list of 'The Most Frequently Banned Books in the 1990s'?
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huckleberry finn
Which author of 'The Color Purple' wrote the advice: 'Never be the only one, except, possibly, in your own home'?
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alice walker
Which poet, known for co-writing a book of poetry with William Wordsworth, penned 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'?
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samuel taylor coleridge
Who is the author that introduced detective Mike Hammer in 'I, The Jury'?
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mickey spillane
Which Shakespearean prince kills King Claudius with a poisoned rapier?
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hamlet
What type of performer is referenced in Sir Walter Scott's poem 'The Lay of the Last'?
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minstrel
Who is the author known for writing both 'The Age of Innocence' and some ghost stories?
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edith wharton
What classic tale did Enid Bagnold write about a young equestrian and the horse she wins in a raffle?
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national velvet
In his 'Ode On The Death Of' which duke did Tennyson reference 'that world-earthquake, Waterloo'?
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wellington
What type of character was Pennywise disguised as in Stephen King's novel 'It'?
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clown
Who is the author of 'The Virginians', a sequel to 'Henry Esmond'?
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william makepeace thackeray
What is the masculine pen name of the late English poetess Florence Margaret Smith?
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stevie smith
Which famous mystery writer sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott?
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agatha christie
Who is the author described by The Reader's Encyclopedia as someone who loved the main streets of America even as he deplored them?
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sinclair lewis
Which author published his first novel at age 17 and introduced Inspector Maigret when he was 28?
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georges simenon
Who is the character in Shakespeare's play that persuades her husband to kill Duncan?
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lady macbeth
What Laura Lee Hope characters, popularized after the revival of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, were brought back as kids?
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bobbsey twins
Who is the playwright that wrote both 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead' and 'Jumpers'?
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tom stoppard
Who is the author of the autobiographies '20 Years at Hull House' and 'The Second 20 Years at Hull House'?
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jane addams
In which F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is Nick Carraway the distant cousin of Daisy Buchanan?
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great gatsby
Which novel follows her life experiences from Gateshead Hall to Lowood School to Thornfield Manor?
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jane eyre
What city did Rudyard Kipling describe as being 'on the road to,' where 'the flyin' fishes play'?
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mandalay