Literature Trivia Questions
- Which influential author wrote the Earthsea fantasy series and the landmark science fiction novel The Left Hand of Darkness?
- Which influential Indian author created the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi for his novels and short stories, such as 'Swami and Friends'?
- Which Irish author wrote 'Ulysses' and 'Dubliners'?
- Which Italian semiotician wrote the 1980 historical mystery "The Name of the Rose," set in a 14th-century Benedictine monastery?
- Which James Joyce masterpiece was the subject of a landmark 1933 U.S. court case that ruled the book was not obscene?
- Which James Joyce novel, set in Dublin over the course of a single day, is known for its parallel to Homer's 'Odyssey'?
- Which Jane Austen novel follows the lives of the five sisters in the Bennet family?
- Which Japanese author wrote the semi-autobiographical novels No Longer Human and The Setting Sun before committing suicide in 1948?
- Which John Steinbeck novel is a multi-generational saga set in the Salinas Valley that serves as a retelling of the biblical story of Cain and Abel?
- Which late 18th to mid-19th century literary movement was characterized by an emphasis on emotion, individualism, and the glorification of nature?
- Which literary work is divided into 'Inferno', 'Purgatorio', and 'Paradiso'?
- Which Mark Twain novel follows a young boy and an escaped slave named Jim as they travel down the Mississippi River?
- Which muckraking author wrote the 1906 novel The Jungle, exposing the unsanitary conditions and labor exploitation in the American meatpacking industry?
- Which Nigerian author wrote the 2006 novel Half of a Yellow Sun, which depicts the impact of the Biafran War through the lives of several interconnected characters?
- Which Nigerian playwright, known for the tragedy Death and the King's Horseman, became the first sub-Saharan African to win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
- Which Nobel laureate and dissident exposed the harsh realities of the Soviet labor camp system in works such as One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago?
- Which Norwegian playwright is known as the 'father of realism' for works such as 'A Doll's House', 'Hedda Gabler', and 'Ghosts'?
- Which novel begins with the line “Call me Ishmael”?
- Which novel begins with the line: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'?
- Which novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley features a creature made of body parts?
- Which novel by Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988?
- Which novel explores life on a whaling ship called the Pequod?
- Which novel features a pig named Napoleon?
- Which novel features a society divided into factions like Dauntless and Erudite?
- Which novel follows a boy stranded on a lifeboat with a tiger?
- Which novel follows the Joad family during the Great Depression?
- Which novel follows the life of a young orphan named Pip?
- Which novel is centered on the character Holden Caulfield?
- Which novel is set during the Spanish Civil War and features Robert Jordan?
- Which novel is subtitled “The Modern Prometheus”?
- Which novel tells the story of Jean Valjean?
- Which novel's opening line is 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'?
- Which play features the quote: 'To be, or not to be, that is the question'?
- Which playwright is responsible for the line 'To be, or not to be'?
- Which poem begins "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"?
- Which poem by Edgar Allan Poe features a talking bird that says 'Nevermore'?
- Which poem is traditionally attributed to Homer about the Trojan War?
- Which poet and civil rights activist wrote the memoir 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'?
- Which poet was a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance and wrote 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers'?
- Which poet wrote 'Leaves of Grass'?
- Which poet wrote 'The Road Not Taken'?
- Which poet wrote 'The Waste Land'?
- Which Portuguese Nobel laureate wrote the 1995 novel Blindness, an allegory about a city struck by a mass epidemic of 'white blindness' and the resulting social collapse?
- Which Portuguese poet is famous for writing under dozens of distinct literary personas called heteronyms, as seen in his posthumously published The Book of Disquiet?
- Which pseudonymous Italian author wrote the Neapolitan Novels, a four-book series following the lifelong friendship of Elena and Lila that begins with My Brilliant Friend?
- Which reclusive American poet lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, and wrote nearly 1,800 poems?
- Which Robert Frost poem about two neighbors rebuilding a stone boundary contains the famous line, "Good fences make good neighbors"?
- Which Russian author was pressured by the Soviet government to decline the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature following the international success of his novel Doctor Zhivago?
- Which Russian author wrote "Crime and Punishment"?
- Which Russian author wrote the satirical novel "The Master and Margarita," in which the Devil visits the Soviet Union under the guise of Professor Woland?