Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 2000
What is the title of the 1994 book that discusses group differences in intelligence and refers to a shape on a graph?
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bell curve
Which author wrote the famous quote, “Gentlemen always seem to remember blondes”?
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anita loos
Which British poet, known for the poem 'Not Waving, But Drowning,' often explored themes of death in her works?
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stevie smith
Ernest Hemingway's 1932 book 'Death in the Afternoon' explores which sport?
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bullfighting
Who is the author of the North and South trilogy, which concludes with the novel 'Heaven and Hell'?
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john jakes
Who is the author of 'The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit'?
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sloan wilson
Which Russian playwright authored 'Motley Stories' and 'The Cherry Orchard'?
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anton chekhov
Who wrote the play 'Romanoff & Juliet' which is set in Concordia, the smallest country in Europe?
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peter ustinov
Who is the Irish author of the play in which Juno's weak-willed husband, the Paycock, appears?
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seán o'casey
What is the title of the Kafka story where a man transforms into a gigantic insect, originally published as 'Die Verwandlung'?
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metamorphosis
Who is the author of 'The Alexandria Quartet' and the elder brother of zoologist and writer Gerald Durrell?
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lawrence durrell
Who is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright that wrote the novel 'The Human Comedy'?
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william saroyan
Who is the author of the novel 'O Pioneers!' which was the first novel she set in Nebraska?
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willa cather
Which novelist wrote the nonfiction book 'Miami and the Siege of Chicago' about the 1968 political conventions?
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norman mailer
What is the title of the first English detective novel written by Wilkie Collins?
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moonstone
Who is the author of the poem 'I Never Saw A Moor', which does not refer to her missing a production of 'Othello'?
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emily dickinson
Which author included the quote 'You and me, we've made a separate peace' in his collection of short stories, 'In Our Time'?
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ernest hemingway
Which British author wrote 'The Loved One,' a satirical novel about funerals in California?
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evelyn waugh
Who wrote 'The Hamlet'?
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william faulkner
Which fictional inventor and adventurer character has been reintroduced to print following the success of new Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books?
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tom swift
Who is the author who published 'Ethan Frome' four years after settling permanently in France?
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edith wharton
Which author, known for 'The Joy Luck Club,' delves into the supernatural in the novel 'The Hundred Secret Senses'?
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amy tan
Which poet is referenced in A SHROPSHIRE LAD with the line 'Malt does more than this poet can to justify God's ways to man'?
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john milton
Which French playwright wrote the comedy 'The Imaginary Invalid', which was later adapted into an opera by Napoli?
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molière
Which American author was helped by Harper Lee to research an article that later became the work 'In Cold Blood'?
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truman capote
Who wrote 'The Silver Box,' which premiered in 1906, and also published the first book of 'The Forsyte Saga' in the same year?
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john galsworthy
Which author won a Pulitzer Prize for his first full-length play, 'Beyond the Horizon,' in 1920?
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eugene o'neill
In 'Alexander's Feast' by John Dryden, he wrote, 'None but the brave deserves' what?
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fair
What New England state is mentioned in the title of a Mark Twain novel, and was also where he lived?
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connecticut
Who is the author of the 1996 novel 'The Keys to the Street', which centers on young Mary Jago but not chief inspector Wexford?
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ruth rendell
Who is the author of the book 'Deadlock' where V.I. Warshawski investigates her cousin's death, a former hockey star?
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sara paretsky
What is the title of the Ray Bradbury novel where fireman Guy Montague burns books?
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fahrenheit 451
Who is the late southern playwright known for co-writing the comedy 'You Touched Me!' which is based on a story by D.H. Lawrence?
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tennessee williams
Which poet was so active in the Imagism movement that Ezra Pound referred to it as 'Amy-gism'?
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amy lowell
Which English poet wrote the verse drama that led to the town of Pippapass, Kentucky being renamed Pippa Passes?
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robert browning
Who is the author of 'The Fountainhead' who wrote, 'Great men can't be ruled'?
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ayn rand
Which Dubliner authored the novels that hold the Nos. 1, 3, and 77 spots on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best 20th century English-language novels?
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james joyce
In James B. Stewart's best seller 'Den of' what term is used to refer to individuals involved in insider stock trading?
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thieves
Who is the Hawthorne heroine with a beautiful, mischievous daughter named Pearl?
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hester prynne
On which island does Othello commit suicide in Shakespeare's play?
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cyprus
What is the numerical title of the Shakespearean comedy subtitled 'Or What You Will'?
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twelfth night
In which Shakespeare play does the character Emilia describe jealousy as 'a monster begot upon itself, born on itself'?
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othello
What is the Shirley Jackson short story about a stoning that is subtitled 'The Adventures of James Harris'?
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lottery
Which author, known for 'The Last of the Mohicans,' was born in Burlington, New Jersey in 1789 and moved to Cooperstown, New York as a child?
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james fenimore cooper
Who is the author of both the novel on which the controversial film 'The Last Temptation of Christ' is based and 'Zorba the Greek'?
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nikos kazantzakis
Which 1953 Arthur Miller play was inspired by the atmosphere of McCarthyism in the early 1950s?
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crucible
Which author describes a walking tour through the Alps and the Black Forest in the book 'A Tramp Abroad'?
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mark twain
Who is the main character in the novel narrated by Humbert Humbert?
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lolita
Who is the poet that asked, 'What men or gods are these?' in 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'?
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john keats
Who wrote the epigram to 'Kubla Khan' that includes the line, 'Every fool is not a poet'?
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samuel taylor coleridge
What shipwreck did Longfellow write a poem about, titled 'The Wreck of the ___'?
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hesperus
From the Latin for 'difficult word', what is a list of words and their definitions that is usually found at the back of the book?
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glossary
Which author reflects on life in Minnesota in some of the stories and poems in 'We Are Still Married'?
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garrison keillor
Which British author created the characters Little Nell and Little Dorrit?
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charles dickens
Which Chekhov play is adapted into Joshua Logan's 'The Wisteria Trees', set on a southern plantation?
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cherry orchard
Who is the poet whose lines from 'The New Colossus' are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty's pedestal?
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emma lazarus
Which author mentioned that his 1994 novel 'A Son of the Circus' is not about India, as he had only visited the country once?
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john irving
Who wrote that Willy Loman's tragedy is 'that he gave his life, or sold it, in order to justify the waste of it'?
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arthur miller
Which Eugene O'Neill play is based on the 'Oresteia' by Aeschylus?
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mourning becomes electra
Which female detective did Agatha Christie describe as someone who always expected the worst of everyone, and was usually right?
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miss marple