Literature Trivia Questions
Total Questions: 413
What is the title of Richard Wright's novel about Bigger Thomas, a black youth raised in a Chicago slum?
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native son
Which poet dedicated 'The Rape of the Lock' to Mrs. Arabella Fremor?
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alexander pope
Who is the author behind the trial drama 'Night of January 16th', where the audience acts as the jury?
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ayn rand
Which author wrote 'One Hundred Years of Solitude,' a novel that spans several generations of the Buendia family?
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gabriel garcía márquez
What is the title of the 1996 comic novel by David Foster Wallace known for its vast length?
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infinite jest
What is the name of the family marooned in Johann Wyss's novel?
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swiss family robinson
Who is the author of the poem 'Andrea Del Sarto' that contains the line, 'Ah but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?'?
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robert browning
Which New Yorker, after moving to Europe, wrote the 1890 novel 'The Tragic Muse' about the art world of Europe?
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henry james
Which author published 'Electronic Life: How to Think About Computers' between his novels 'Congo' and 'Sphere'?
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michael crichton
Which Civil War historian won a Pulitzer Prize in 1954 for his book "A Stillness At Appomattox"?
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bruce catton
Who is the German author known for writing the tetralogy of novels 'Joseph and His Brothers' and the novella 'Death in Venice'?
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thomas mann
Which author, known for his book 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less', was also a member of the House of Commons?
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jeffrey archer
What did Wordsworth say 'is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers'?
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world
Which playwright wrote 'The Matchmaker,' a play that was based on his earlier work 'The Merchant of Yonkers'?
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thornton wilder
Who wrote the 1848 novel 'Dombey and Son' while residing in Switzerland?
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charles dickens
Who is the renowned author born Chloe Anthony Wofford in 1931, known for writing 'Beloved'?
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toni morrison
Which author, known for writing 'The Red and the Black,' has a museum dedicated to him in his birthplace, Grenoble?
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stendhal
What is the title of the Camus novel known in French as 'La Peste'?
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plague
What is the name of the Joseph Heller hero who is also called Yo-Yo?
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yossarian
Which novelist, known for 'I, Claudius,' wrote the memoir 'Good-Bye to All That,' which vividly depicts World War I?
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robert graves
In which famous novel did Sam Waterston play the character Nick Carraway in its 1974 film adaptation?
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great gatsby
Which J.K. Rowling hero has encountered 'The Sorcerer's Stone' and 'The Chamber of Secrets'?
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harry potter
Who is the author of the books 'The Stranger' and 'The Plague'?
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albert camus
In the lines by Kipling, what three-letter word completes the phrase, 'Till the devil whispered behind the leaves, 'it's pretty, but is it'?'
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art
What is the title of the 1872 Samuel Butler satire that has the alternate title 'Over The Range'?
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erewhon
Who is the queen of the Amazons that Theseus, Duke of Athens, is engaged to in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'?
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hippolyta
In which poignant novel by Solzhenitsyn do the characters Oleg Kostoglotov and Pavel Rusanov appear as patients?
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cancer ward
What is the name of the ship Longfellow wrote about that 'sailed the wintry sea; and the skipper had taken his little daughter'?
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hesperus
Who is the author of 'Black Beauty' who required a horse-drawn carriage for mobility due to being an invalid?
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anna sewell
What is the title of the 1946 John Hersey book about WWII that begins with 'At exactly fifteen minutes past eight in the morning...'?
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hiroshima
Which author of 'My Antonia' worked as an editor at McClure's magazine before becoming a full-time writer?
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willa cather
Which French author, formerly a music-hall dancer and actress, wrote the book 'Gigi'?
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colette
What is the name of the woman who tells the tales of the Arabian Nights to the king?
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scheherazade
Who is the author whose first book, 'Cabbages and Kings', was published in 1904?
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o. henry
Which screenwriter, known for 'Network,' wrote the sci-fi thriller 'Altered States' as his first novel?
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paddy chayefsky
Which author, known as Billy or 'Memmie' to his family during his upbringing in Oxford, Mississippi, gained significant acclaim for his literary achievements?
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william faulkner
Which poet, known for her suffering and breakdown, is the subject of the controversial 1989 biography 'Bitter Fame'?
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sylvia plath
Which author, known for 'Watchers' and 'Intensity', published a thriller titled 'Sole Survivor' in 1997?
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dean koontz
Who was the literary captain of the whaling ship Pequod?
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ahab
Which author, known for writing 'A Clockwork Orange', also penned a series of comic novels about a poet named Enderby?
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anthony burgess
Who is the author of the story that inspired Burt Lancaster's film debut in 'The Killers'?
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ernest hemingway
Which novel features a mysterious wealthy man who throws extravagant parties to win back a former lover, only to be killed at the end?
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great gatsby
Who is the author of 'The Icarus Agenda', 'The Osterman Weekend', and 'The Matarese Circle'?
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robert ludlum
In the novel 'All the King's Men', who kills the governor in the capitol?
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willie stark
In Shakespeare's play 'Othello', what dreaded habit is associated with the Anthropophagi, as mentioned by Othello in his stories to Desdemona?
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cannibalism
Who is the author of "A Lost Lady", "The Song of the Lark", and "My �ntonia"?
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willa cather
Which British novelist and essayist believed that human character changed 'on or about December 1910'?
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virginia woolf
Who is the author of 'Lord Jim' who spent part of his youth in exile in Russia due to his father's involvement as a Polish revolutionary?
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joseph conrad
Who is the 19th-century author of 'Les Fleurs du Mal' who also translated Poe's tales into French?
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charles baudelaire
Who is the author of the novel featuring two sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, who represent 'Sense & Sensibility'?
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jane austen
Which author wrote the novel 'Falconer' where Falconer is a prison?
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john cheever
Who is the playwright of the play 'Mourning Becomes Electra' which begins with a band playing 'John Brown's Body'?
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eugene o'neill
Who is the title character of a Shakespearean tragedy set mostly in Cyprus, where he serves as governor?
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othello
Raymond Chandler wrote 7 novels featuring Philip Marlowe, including 'The Long Goodbye' and which other 'Farewell' book?
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farewell, my lovely
Who is the master of the espionage thriller that has written three books about the top assassin Jason Bourne?
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robert ludlum
Which poet once wrote, 'I choose to be a plain New Hampshire farmer'?
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robert frost
Which playwright was born in Zlin, Czechoslovakia in 1937 and had his original surname as Straussler?
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tom stoppard
Which play features the characters Dr. Gibbs, George Gibbs, and Emily Webb?
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our town
Which Quaker poet wrote 'Snow-Bound,' a narrative poem about a family isolated during a blizzard?
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john greenleaf whittier
Which playwright completed his final play, 'Buoyant Billions', at the age of 92?
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george bernard shaw