Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 2000
Which poet wrote the poem 'I Heard a Fly Buzz' that was inspired by a chapter in 'The House of the Seven Gables'?
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emily dickinson
Who is the miserly weaver who becomes the stepfather to Eppie Cass in a George Eliot novel?
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silas marner
Which country was author Selma Lagerlof, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, from?
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sweden
Which poet concluded 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' with 'The Epitaph'?
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thomas gray
Who is the author of the bestselling nonfiction book 'Aunt Erma's Cope Book' from 1979?
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erma bombeck
Which poet received Craigie House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a wedding gift from his father-in-law?
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henry wadsworth longfellow
Which author, known for his horse-racing themed mysteries, was also a jockey who competed in the Grand National?
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dick francis
Which short story writer, known for his unexpected endings, has a museum dedicated to him in Austin?
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o. henry
Which author gave readers a choice of alternate endings in 'The French Lieutenant's Woman'?
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john fowles
Which Yiddish writer's short story "Gimpel the Fool" was translated into English by Saul Bellow?
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isaac bashevis singer
Which famous American wrote, 'I come to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home'?
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henry david thoreau
Which author continued the saga of the Corleones in his novel 'The Sicilian'?
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mario puzo
Which vampire novelist, who wrote 'Exit to Eden' under the pseudonym Anne Rampling, is known for her influential work in the genre?
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anne rice
What is the title of Lawrence Sander's first novel, published in 1970, that includes tapes in its name?
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anderson tapes
In T.S. Eliot's 'Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', who do the women come and go talking of?
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michelangelo
What vessel, described by Jules Verne as 232 feet long, displacing 50,000 cubic feet and powered by electricity, appears in his literature?
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nautilus
Who is the author of the famous diary that contains the quote 'I still believe that people are really good at heart'?
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anne frank
In which Aldous Huxley novel does Mustapha Mond discuss the dangers of Shakespeare?
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brave new world
Which villainous Spanish character is the central figure in one of Lord Byron's greatest, yet unfinished, epic poems?
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don juan
Which novelist published her second children's book, 'The Chinese Siamese Cat,' in 1994?
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amy tan
Which epigrammatic poet's grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst College?
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emily dickinson
Who is the creator of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle whose house is now maintained as a museum?
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beatrix potter
What is the fruity first name of the acclaimed Japanese author who wrote 'N.P.', 'Amrita', and 'Kitchen'?
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banana
What ancient city's description in the prologue of 'Troilus and Cressida' includes the phrase 'Priam's six-gated city'?
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troy
Which author wrote the novel 'Absalom, Absalom!' that is often considered essential reading?
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william faulkner
What phenomenon did Carl Sandburg describe as 'coming in on little cat feet'?
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fog
According to Oscar Wilde, what can he resist everything except?
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temptation
Which author wrote in 1936's 'An American And France', 'America is my country and Paris is my hometown'?
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gertrude stein
Which poet attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1847 and 1848?
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emily dickinson
In which enigmatic Shirley Jackson story does Tessie Hutchinson draw the unlucky ticket?
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lottery
Who became president of the Mystery Writers of America in 1959 and is known for writing 'Farewell My Lovely'?
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raymond chandler
Who is the mystic that wrote 'The Garden of the Prophet' along with 'The Prophet'?
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kahlil gibran
Who, in 'The Merchant of Venice,' tells his friend Tubal to meet him at their synagogue?
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shylock
Who is the author of the books 'Of Love and Shadows' and 'The House of the Spirits'?
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isabel allende
What author wrote the story that begins with Gregor Samsa waking up to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect?
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franz kafka
Who is the woman for whom Antinous is the leader of the suitors in 'The Odyssey'?
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penelope
What is the name of the C. McCullough book that was the all-time best-selling paperback by a woman as of 1989?
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thorn birds
What is a term for a section added at the end of a book to provide additional information?
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addendum
What, according to Carl Sandburg, 'sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on'?
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fog
What novel begins with the line, 'It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen'?
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1984
What type of machine is referred to in the title of Tracy Kidder's nonfiction work 'The Soul of a New Machine'?
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computer
Who wrote the Nebraska-set novel 'O Pioneers!' while living in Greenwich Village?
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willa cather
In which Charles Dickens novel do the characters Uncle Pumblechook, Mr. Wopsle, and Miss Havisham appear?
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great expectations
Which author of 'Invisible Man' was named after the transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson?
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ralph ellison
Which author wrote the 1925 novel 'An American Tragedy,' which was based on a real life murder case?
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theodore dreiser
In the epic poem 'Beowulf', which monster does Beowulf defeat by tearing off its arm?
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grendel
What Homeric war epic did Casanova translate in 1775, aside from writing his popular autobiography?
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iliad
Who is the legendary king featured in Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King'?
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king arthur
Which author began an unfinished novel titled 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' that opens in an opium den?
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charles dickens
Who wrote 'The great thing about the dead, they make space' in 'Rabbit is Rich'?
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john updike
What is the nickname of the British fictional hero Hugh Drummond?
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bulldog
What animal created Narnia according to the fantasy series by C.S. Lewis?
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lion
Who is the prolific author whose 1988 bestseller 'Zoya' is set before and after the Russian Revolution?
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danielle steel
In which Charles Dickens novel does Pip discover that his benefactor is Abel Magwitch?
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great expectations
What 2-letter pronoun was used as the title of Charles A. Lindbergh's 1927 autobiography?
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we
In Robert W. Service's poem 'Spell of the Yukon', what metal did the author want and seek?
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gold
Which author wrote the scary novella that Susannah York taped an audio version of, titled 'The Turn of the Screw'?
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henry james
In Shakespeare's play 'Macbeth', what amphibian's eye is included as an ingredient in the witches' brew?
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newt
Which woman author known for wearing men's clothes wrote the 1848 novel 'Francois le Champi'?
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george sand
In which Shakespearean play are Malcolm and Donalbain the sons of King Duncan?
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macbeth