Literature Trivia Questions

Literature trivia questions with answers

A sample from the literature bank — tap any question to reveal the answer. Good for quiz nights, classrooms, or settling arguments.

1. Known as the "Sage of Concord", what American Transcendentalist owned the land where Henry David Thoreau built his cabin near Walden Pond in Massachusetts?

   Ralph Waldo Emerson

2. What color shirt did Nero Wolfe invariably wear?

   Yellow

3. Author Gabriel García Márquez stresses in this 1985 novel that love-sickness is a literal disease causing pain and other physical symptoms.

   Love in the Time of Cholera

4. Stephen King wrote about half of this novel in room 217 of the Stanely Hotel in Colorado.

   The Shining

5. In the Dark Tower series, the woman known as Susannah has a dissociative identity disorder. How many personalities does she have?

   4

6. Which one of these plays by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare is not a comedy?

   Macbeth

7. This book by George Orwell was banned as it was pro-communist.

   1984

8. Based on a Pulitzer prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham this 2002 movie featured Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore.

   The Hours

9. What potion do Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger use to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic?

   Polyjuice Potion

10. She wrote Cold Comfort in 1986 and A Space Filled with Movement in 1992.

    Maggie Anderson

11. What Shakespearean character, who is the epitome of honesty and loyalty, is disinherited by her father, King Lear?

    Cordelia

12. In which Stephen King story do we meet the evil Randall Flagg?

    The Stand

13. The novel entitled Cosette ou le Temps des Illusions (Cosette or the Time of Illusions), written by Francois Ceresa, is sequel to what Victor Hugo novel?

    Les Miserables

14. What prize did John Steinbeck receive in 1962?

    Nobel Prize for Literature

15. What was the pen name of Eric Blair, the author of the novel Animal Farm, which satirizes totalitarian government and human stupidity?

    George Orwell

16. In His Dark Materials trilogy, what can be the subtle knife used for?

    All of these

17. In Night life of the Gods by Thorne Smith what object is responsible for the transformations that occur throughout the story?

    A ring

18. What was the name of Shakespeares theatre, where his acting company performed?

    The Globe Theater

19. Where does most of the action in the novel The Mezzanine take place?

    In the protagonists mind

20. What Mark Twain book is the following line from: All right, then, Ill go to hell!?

    Huckleberry Finn

21. This dinosaur, depicted in the novel Jurassic Park, was a very beautiful carnivore but spat poison to blind its prey.

    Dilophosaur

22. In 1920 Ernest Hemingway accepted a job at this Canadian newspaper, where he met Morley Callaghan.

    The Toronto Star

23. What American Modernist poet wrote the poem The Snow Man, which opens with the lines, One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;?

    Wallace Stevens

24. At The Mountains of Madness

    H.P. Lovecraft

25. What was the name of Alexs guardian in the novel Ark Angel?

    Jack Starbright

26. What did Fudges father dump on top of his head in the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing?

    cornflakes

27. Who wrote the poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came that inspired Stephen King to write the first novel in The Drak Tower series?

    Robert Browning

28. What are the two cities named in the title of Charles Dickens historical novel A Tale of Two Cities?

    Paris and London

29. Mother of Mercy! Is this the end of Rico? is the last line of this great movie.

    Little Ceasar

30. In the book Ark Angel, what are the nicknames Alex Rider gives to the four men who break into St. Dominics hospital looking for Paul Drevin?

    Combat Jacket, Spectacles, Steel Watch, Silver Tooth

31. Which of the following women was not married to John Steinbeck?

    Mary Steinbeck Dekker

32. He is largely considered to be the most popular American poet of the 19th century as well as the first professional American poet.

    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

33. How many actresses auditioned for the coveted role of Scarlett OHara?

    1400

34. Ape and Essance; Eyeless in Gaza; Point Counter Point

    Aldous Huxley

35. Left Behind character Bruce Barnes believes The Tribulation would last how many years?

    7

36. What was Mark Twains opinion about slavery?

    He was adamantly against it.

37. What 70s television series did Dean Koontz write an episode for?

    CHiPs

38. Which of these is both the name of a fictional character and a pseudonym used by two co-writers of detective fiction?

    Ellery Queen

39. The adjective Falstaffian, meaning jovial and with zest for life, is derived from the name of the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, who is featured in this Shakespearean comedy.

    The Merry Wives of Windsor

40. T. S. Eliot was the last of 6 children surviving. How old were his parents when he was born?

    44