Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 388
In which city did Hunter S. Thompson send Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo to cover the Mint 400 race in his 1972 book?
las vegas
Who is the author of 'To The Lighthouse' who was born Adeline Virginia Stephen and was a leader of the Bloomsbury Group?
virginia woolf
Which poet wrote the lines, 'Some keep the sabbath going to church -- I keep it, staying at home --'?
emily dickinson
Which Shakespeare play begins with the line 'Boatswain!'?
tempest
Which author had a bronze bust unveiled near Sun Valley, Idaho, on the 67th anniversary of his birth in 1966?
ernest hemingway
What novel begins with the line, 'It was Wang Lung's marriage day'?
good earth
Which Danish author wrote 'The Little Match Girl,' a story that inspired an 1897 opera by August Enna?
hans christian andersen
What is the name of the work that won Eugene O'Neill his second Pulitzer Prize, which centers on a prostitute and her Swedish seaman father?
anna christie
What is the London address where Sherlock Holmes resided, as known by all his mates in 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'?
221b baker street
Which author wrote the novel 'WLT: A Radio Romance' that is set in Minneapolis?
garrison keillor
Which author of 'The Age of Innocence' began her career with a book on interior design titled 'The Decoration of Houses'?
edith wharton
Who is the author of 'Heart of Darkness' who realized his dream of commanding a steamboat up the Congo River?
joseph conrad
In which novel do the characters O'Brien, Mr. Charrington, and Winston Smith appear?
1984
Which novelist was named Dame Commander in the Order of the British Empire in 1971?
agatha christie
In which poem by John Milton does a Biblical hero speak of the strength he had 'while I preserved these locks unshorn'?
samson
Who is the author of 'Pilgrim's Progress' who also delivered sermons as a lay preacher for the nonconformists?
john bunyan
What is the title of the first novella published by Philip Roth?
goodbye, columbus
Who wrote 'The Dance to Death' and 'The New Colossus,' with the former considered her best poem according to Reader's Encyclopedia?
emma lazarus
In which novel do Lara and her family move to an apartment in 'the most disreputable part of Moscow' in Chapter 2?
doctor zhivago
Which author, originally from Odense, was primarily known as a novelist before publishing his first fairy tales?
hans christian andersen
Who is the author of the books featuring Sid Halley, an ex-jockey turned investigator?
dick francis
In Patricia Highsmith's first novel, what mode of transportation do Guy Haines and Charles Bruno encounter each other on in 'Strangers on a'?
train
Who wrote 'The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas,' which was her only bestseller?
gertrude stein
In which Italian city does E.M. Forster's novel 'A Room with a View' begin at the Pensione Bertolini?
florence
Which stout detective character created by Rex Stout was first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post?
nero wolfe
Who is the new bride of Shahriar in 'The Thousand and One Nights'?
scheherazade
Under a joint pen name, which 'Congo' author co-wrote 'Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston 40-Brick Lost-Bag Blues'?
michael crichton
Which female primatologist, while teaching at Cornell, wrote 'Gorillas in the Mist'?
dian fossey
In which work by Chaucer do 29 pilgrims gather at the Tabard Inn?
canterbury tales
In which Nathaniel Hawthorne novel does a character named Roger Chillingworth assume the role of a physician?
hester prynne
Which poet's 1892 collection, 'Barrack-Room Ballads', includes the poems 'Fuzzy Wuzzy' and 'Gunga Din'?
rudyard kipling
Which British poet wrote the first line 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever' in his poem 'Endymion'?
john keats
Which author wrote 'The Celestial Railroad,' a parody included in his 'Twice-Told Tales' collection, as a parody of John Bunyan's works?
nathaniel hawthorne
Which author, born the same year as Shakespeare, was killed in a tavern brawl at age 29 and wrote 'Dr. Faustus'?
christopher marlowe
Who is the first character to tell a tale in 'The Canterbury Tales' and is known as a medieval fighting man?
knight
Which playwright wrote the offbeat comedy 'Suicide in B-Flat', as his girlfriend Jessica Lange could tell you?
sam shepard
In which Hemingway novel would you find the characters Jake Barnes, Lady Brett Ashley, and bullfighter Pedro Romero?
sun also rises
Which bestselling novel from 1977 is set on an Australian sheep station?
thorn birds
Who co-wrote the libretto for the 1-act opera 'Bartleby' and also authored 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'
edward albee
Who is the author whose more than 30 books were made into films, including 'Hondo' and 'How the West Was Won'?
louis l'amour
Which 20th-century writer's book 'The Carpetbaggers' has gone through over 80 printings and sold over 10 million copies?
harold robbins
What is the title of the last and most famous novel written by George Orwell while he was on the island of Jura in the Inner Hebrides?
1984
Which literary work is quoted on Tyrone Power's grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, including the line 'Good night, sweet prince'?
hamlet
Who is the modern writer known for works such as 'Fahrenheit 451' and for writing the screenplay for 'Moby Dick'?
ray bradbury
Who is the author known for creating Captain Wolf Larsen and was the illegitimate son of a traveling astrologer?
jack london
Who is the female author and playwright known for her 1941 novel 'Saratoga Trunk'?
edna ferber
Which author is believed by some critics to have written his best work with the unfinished novel 'The Last Tycoon'?
f. scott fitzgerald
Who authored the 'Chicago Poems' published in 1916?
carl sandburg
Which poet not only wrote 'Don Juan' but also swam across the Hellespont to prove it was possible?
lord byron
Which Shakespearean character asks, 'If you prick us, do we not bleed?...If you poison us, do we not die?'
shylock
Who is the author of the autobiography that includes the nonfiction work 'The Heart of a Woman,' which was the first nonfiction selection for Oprah's Book Club?
maya angelou
Which Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem is subtitled 'Or, a Vision in a Dream, A Fragment'?
kubla khan
In Shakespeare, who had a barge with sails 'so perfumed that the winds were love-sick with them?'
cleopatra
Who is the Bombay-born author whose first novel was 'The Light That Failed'?
rudyard kipling
In which Shakespeare play does Lucius Andronicus become emperor of Rome by the end?
titus andronicus
Which author wrote the novel where Dr. Jekyll experiences a transformation and becomes a dwarf?
robert louis stevenson
Who is the Italian professor that authored the 1994 novel 'The Island of the Day Before'?
umberto eco
In which country did Henry Miller write his first important book, 'Tropic of Cancer'?
france
Who wrote the essay 'Life Without Principle' after returning from Walden Pond?
henry david thoreau
Which animal in Aesop's fables was later saved by a mouse after freeing it from a trap?
lion