Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 2000
Which 1906 Upton Sinclair novel focuses on the life of Jurgis Rudkus, a worker in the Chicago stockyards?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
jungle
In which Shakespeare play does the renouncing of magic symbolize the bard's farewell to the stage?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
tempest
Who is the Swedish playwright known as a forerunner of expressionist drama?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
august strindberg
Who did Jimmy Carter refer to as 'the best poet I know' and wrote 'Deliverance'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
james dickey
Which 1936 Daphne du Maurier novel is one of her Cornish tales?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
jamaica inn
Which Dickens novel is narrated by Philip Pirrip?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
great expectations
Which Virginia-born Nebraska author published her first novel, 'Alexander's Bridge', in 1912?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
willa cather
Who is the author of the book 'Green Mansions'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
william henry hudson
In which 1950 Ray Bradbury classic does the story begin in 1999 with men blasting off for another planet?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
martian chronicles
Which Shakespearean heroine lends her name to a decorative skullcap sometimes worn by brides?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
juliet
Which author, nicknamed 'Dr. Love', wrote bestselling books including 1972's 'Love' and 1984's 'Loving Each Other'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
leo buscaglia
Who is the author of the novel featuring Dr. Tertius Lydgate and Rosamund Vinci, titled 'Middlemarch'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
george eliot
Who was banished from Verona for killing Tybalt?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
romeo
What literary form includes Juvenalian and Horatian as its two main types and employs irony and sarcasm?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
satire
Who is the Canadian author whose first book of poetry was 'Double Persephone' and also wrote 'The Handmaid's Tale'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
margaret atwood
What is the title of an Alvin Toffler book that refers to the anxiety caused by swift technological change?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
future shock
Which play features the characters Larry Slade, Harry Hope, and Theodore 'Hickey' Hickman?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
iceman cometh
Which 20th-century writer is known for their 'merry pranks' as detailed in Tom Wolfe's 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
ken kesey
In Shakespeare's 'Measure for Measure,' Vincentio is the duke of which Austrian city?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
vienna
Which Philip Roth book starts with the line, 'The first time I saw Brenda she asked me to hold her glasses'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
goodbye, columbus
Which author wrote the line 'Writers are always selling somebody out' in 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
joan didion
What is the title of Michael Ende's story about a boy who enters a fantasy world by reading a book?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
neverending story
Which author wrote 'By the North Gate', 'A Garden of Earthly Delights', and 'Bellefleur'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
joyce carol oates
Which Chinese-American detective is featured in the 6 novels by Earl Derr Biggers that were first serialized in The Saturday Evening Post?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
charlie chan
Which author of 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' revealed 'The Way to the House of Santa Claus' in a 1916 story?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
frances hodgson burnett
Which famous poet's grave and home, the 'Boathouse,' can you visit in Laugharne?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
dylan thomas
Which author of 'The Bell Jar' had two posthumous poetry collections titled 'Crossing the Water' and 'Winter Trees'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
sylvia plath
What is the name of the kingdom in 'The Prisoner of Zenda' that became synonymous with a fanciful, romantic place?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
ruritania
Who was the contemporary of Shakespeare who wrote 'Tamburlaine' and 'The Jew of Malta'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
christopher marlowe
Which 'Beloved' author set her novel 'Paradise' in the fictional all-black town of Ruby, Oklahoma?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
toni morrison
What word completes the title of Olive Ann Burns' novel 'Cold Sassy ___'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
tree
Who authored 'Finnegans Wake' during the final years of his life?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
james joyce
Which author wrote the 1946 novel 'All the King's Men' narrated by Jack Burden?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
robert penn warren
Which Lloyd C. Douglas novel about the crucifixion was a best seller in both 1943 and 1953, coinciding with the movie release?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
robe
What is the full name of the author whose middle name is Flannery and wrote 'Wise Blood'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
flannery o'connor
In which novel can you find the character Jonathan Harker, who is a lawyer?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
dracula
Which author wrote the novels that were adapted into the films featuring Alan Bates in 'The Fixer' and Robert Redford in 'The Natural'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
bernard malamud
Who wrote the last three verses of 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
sarah josepha hale
Who is widely known as the 'Hoosier Poet' and wrote 'The frost is on the punkin'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
james whitcomb riley
Who is the humorist whose newspaper columns are collected in the book 'While Reagan Slept'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
art buchwald
What is the title of the Edith Wharton novel that involves a New England farmer who is caught between his nagging wife and a sweet young love interest?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
ethan frome
Which Shaw title character resigns from the Salvation Army after 'tainted money' is donated?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
major barbara
Who is the French author best remembered for writing 'A la recherche du temps perdu'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
marcel proust
Who is the writer whose Yiddish short story, 'Gimpel The Fool,' was translated into English by Saul Bellow?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
isaac bashevis singer
In which Shakespearean comedy does the character Touchstone say, 'Ay, now am I in Arden, the more fool I'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
as you like it
In which Welsh poet's work, 'Under Milk Wood,' can Mr. Waldo be found?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
dylan thomas
Which author known for writing novels about horse racing, such as 'The Edge' and 'Hot Money,' has frequently appeared on best seller lists?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
dick francis
In the poem by Milton, who laments, 'O loss of sight, of thee I most complain!'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
samson
What is the hometown of the famous author Jorge Luis Borges?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
buenos aires
Which female expatriate author wrote, 'Chicken, alas a dirty word, alas a dirty third... alas a dirty bird'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
gertrude stein
Which playwright wrote her first book of memoirs titled 'An Unfinished Woman' and her last 'Maybe'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
lillian hellman
Which author gave up architecture to pursue writing after the success of 'Far from the Madding Crowd'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
thomas hardy
Which Russian novel, first published in 1958 in Italian and later in English, contributed to its author's Nobel Prize win?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
doctor zhivago
Who is the author of 'Candide' who writes about being in the 'best of all possible worlds'?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
voltaire
Which Swedish playwright married actress Siri von Essen after her divorce from Baron Wrangel in 1877?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
august strindberg
In which country is Colleen McCullough's novel 'The Ladies of Missalonghi' set in the Blue Mountains?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
australia
Who is the Norwegian playwright who wrote the play 'Peer Gynt' in 1867?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
henrik ibsen
Which dialogue by Plato, consisting of 10 books, starts with a discussion on the nature of justice?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
republic
Which author had excerpts of her book 'Pilgrim at Tinker Creek' appear as essays in The Atlantic and Harper's?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
annie dillard
In Shakespeare's work, what herb does Ophelia associate with remembrance?
Very Hard
Click to reveal answer
rosemary