Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 2000
Who is the father of Hester Prynne's daughter Pearl in 'The Scarlet Letter'?
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arthur dimmesdale
Who was the author of 'The Cardinal Sins' and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1954?
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andrew greeley
Which author's work titled 'Madame Bovary' loosely inspired Stephen Crane's 'Maggie: A Girl of the Streets'?
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gustave flaubert
Who is the author of 'Humboldt's Gift' who won both the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes in 1976?
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saul bellow
Which author based the character Judge Temple on his father William in the 1823 book "The Pioneers"?
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james fenimore cooper
What is the title of Ray Bradbury's 1950 collection of stories about the colonization of Mars?
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martian chronicles
Which poet's series 'Bells and Pomegranates' included the works 'Pippa Passes' and 'My Last Duchess'?
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robert browning
Who was serving as Chile's ambassador to France when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971?
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pablo neruda
Which authors plans to study biology at Eton School were thwarted by an eye ailment?
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aldous huxley
From which country does the romantic tale 'The Pursuit of Diarmait and Grania' in the Fenian Cycle originate?
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ireland
What color did Alice see the queen's gardeners paint the white roses in Wonderland?
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red
Which author set her 1931 novel 'Shadows on the Rock' in Quebec rather than Nebraska?
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willa cather
Which comedienne authored the autobiographical book titled 'It's Always Something'?
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gilda radner
Who is the rejected lover in Shakespeare's play who says 'If thou be merciful, open the tomb, lay me with Juliet' as his last words?
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paris
What valuable object does the fisherman Kino find in a short novel by John Steinbeck?
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pearl
Which author died while writing the book 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood,' leaving its ending unknown?
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charles dickens
What is the title of the 1861 George Eliot novel that is subtitled 'The Weaver of Raveloe'?
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silas marner
What is the name of the main character whose mother Clara marries Mr. Murdstone in a novel by Charles Dickens?
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david copperfield
Which midwestern American poet gained new fame in 1990 with the book 'Iron John: A Book About Men'?
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robert bly
Who wrote the libretto for Dessau's 'The Trial of Lucullus' and Weill's 'The Threepenny Opera'?
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bertolt brecht
Which author created the character Montague Tigg, who uses the alias Tigg Montague, in the novel 'Martin Chuzzlewit'?
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charles dickens
Who wrote in his 1755 dictionary, 'To make dictionaries is dull work'?
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samuel johnson
Which playwright wrote the offbeat play 'The Skin of our Teeth' that features a talking baby dinosaur?
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thornton wilder
Who wrote the short story 'Ms. Found in a Bottle,' which won a Baltimore short story contest in 1833?
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edgar allan poe
Who is the character whose wife is Aunt Chloe and whose master is Arthur Shelby in Kentucky?
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uncle tom
Which French author wrote both 'Salammbo' and 'Madame Bovary'?
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gustave flaubert
Which author created the characters Nick Charles and Sam Spade?
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dashiell hammett
Who authored the first volume of poetry titled 'Into the Stone and other Poems' and the novel 'Deliverance'?
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james dickey
What is the name of the Shaw play in which Act II opens at a Salvation Army shelter?
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major barbara
Who is the prolific author that published 'Star' and 'Daddy' in 1989?
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danielle steel
Who parodied Samuel Richardson's novel 'Pamela' in his satirical book 'Joseph Andrews'?
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henry fielding
Who is the author known for writing 1958's first full-length play 'The Birthday Party' and 'The Homecoming'?
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harold pinter
Who authored the 1878 novel 'The Return of the Native', which was initially published as a serial in Belgravia Magazine?
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thomas hardy
Which Ayn Rand novel features a character named Howard Roark, who was based on Frank Lloyd Wright?
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fountainhead
Who is the father of Miranda in Shakespeare's play 'The Tempest'?
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prospero
Who is the daughter of King Priam blessed with the gift of prophecy but cursed by Apollo to never be believed?
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cassandra
Which eccentric old lady in 'Great Expectations' dies after her wedding gown catches fire?
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miss havisham
Who knighted the two swindlers and gave each the title of 'Gentleman Weaver' in the fairy tale?
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emperor
Which author wrote the collection of nine stories titled 'Windy City Blues' featuring the character V.I. Warshawski?
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sara paretsky
Which modern author was originally named Howard Allen O'Brien, known for creating the character of the vampire Lestat?
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anne rice
Who is the author that grew up in Hollywood and wrote the novel 'What Makes Sammy Run?' about an amoral studio executive?
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budd schulberg
Who is the author known for describing his novel 'Jude The Obscure' as a story 'of a deadly war waged between flesh and spirit'?
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thomas hardy
In Boccaccio's 'The Decameron', how many days' work does the title literally refer to?
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10
In Shakespeare's play 'Cymbeline', which bird is mentioned in the song lyrics 'Hark! Hark! at heaven's gate sings'?
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lark
Who is the author of 'Babbitt' who published his first novel, 'Hike And The Aeroplane', under the pseudonym Tom Graham?
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sinclair lewis
What did Shakespeare write, 'There is no darkness but' and is something you cannot use as an excuse of the law?
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ignorance
What pen name did Stephen King use to write the 1984 novel 'Thinner'?
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richard bachman
In which novel do the characters Winston Smith, Julia, and Mr. Charrington appear?
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1984
Which author, known for being born in Edinburgh in 1850 and dying in Samoa in 1894, wrote famous works like 'Treasure Island'?
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robert louis stevenson
In which country is Athol Fugard's play 'Master Harold...and the Boys' set?
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south africa
Who is the author of the novels 'Pal Joey', 'Butterfly 8', and 'Ten North Frederick'?
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john o'hara
Which author wrote the novel 'Fahrenheit 451', a book about a dystopian future where books are banned and burned?
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ray bradbury
Which author is known for writing 'Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant' in 1982 and 'Breathing Lessons' in 1988?
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anne tyler
Which author, known for creating Uncle Remus, has his papers housed at the Woodruff Library at Emory University in Atlanta?
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joel chandler harris
Who is the rightful Duke of Milan and the leading character in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'?
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prospero
Who is the Nobel Prize-winning novelist whose home, Rowan Oak, is a national historic landmark?
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william faulkner
In 1989, which author of 'Beloved' became a professor of Creative Writing at Princeton?
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toni morrison
Which author created the characters Nathan Zuckerman, Trick E. Dixon, and Alexander Portnoy?
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philip roth
What Ayn Rand book ends with the lines 'Then there was only the ocean and the sky and the figure of Howard Roark'?
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fountainhead
Which Mississippian author wrote 'Go Down, Moses,' a book that includes his famous story 'The Bear'?
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william faulkner