Academic Team Literature Questions

This play opened in London in 1967 and was hailed as a great existential work. Using Shakespeare's Hamlet as the setting, the author describes the humorous exploits of two of the Bard's minor characters. Name this play by Tom Stoppard.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dea

Philip Zimbardo, a professor emeritus at this institution, wrote The Lucifer Effect after conducting an experiment that seeks to explain why good people perform evil acts after being given authority. This "prison experiment" was conducted at the psychology department of which university founded by a former senator, governor of California, and railroad tycoon?

Stanford

Five of Shakespeare's plays are set in whole or in part in the city of Rome. Name any one of the five Roman plays.

Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra,. Coriolanus, Titus Anndronicus, or Cymbeline

King kills his father, then marries woman old enough to be his mother and she is.

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Government official's wife, bearing count's child, flings self under train.

Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

Skeleton of wine taster discovered behind brick wall in mansion cellar.

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Poe

Madwoman long imprisoned in attic sets house on fire, then leaps to death.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Mystery writer Raymond Candlemaker

Chandler

Diarist Anne Candid

Frank

Poet Robert Ice Crystals

Frost

Playwright Arthur Flour Grinder

Miller

Moby Dick

Herman Melville
The great but commercially unsuccessful novel about Captain Ahab's obsessive pursuit of a white whale.

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens: (miser Ebinezer Scrooge, partner of deceased Marley, converted by visions of past, present, and future Christmases; sees the Cratchits, including Tiny Tim and Bob, Scrooge's secretary)

1984

George Orwell;
Winston Smith - Protagonist
The Big Brother is the representation of the extreme totalitarianism government; "The Big Brother is Watching"-He's everywhere, on coins, etc.

Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Wicked Witch of the East are characters in which L. Frank Baum novel?

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Complete this line from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese:
How do I love thee?
Let me _____ _____ _____

count the ways

The Jungle

This 1906 work by Upton Sinclair pointed out the abuses of the meat packing industry. The book led to the passage of the 1906 Meat Inspection Act.
Jurgis Rudkus - Protagonist

Identify the conjunction used below. Although he spends his weekends in the mountains, his heart is near the ocean.

Although

What are the names of the two protagonists in Of Mice and Men?

George Milton and Lennie Small

Name Edgar Lee Masters' 1915 poetry anthology that derives its name from a river flowing through central Illinois.

Spoon River Anthology

Name Audrey Niffenegger's debut novel, published in 2003, about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to travel in time.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Most of this English writer's thick novels were originally published as serials in newspapers, including Great Expectations and The Pickwick Papers.

Charles Dickens

Which part of speech is the first word in these sentences?
"Away with you!"
"Off with their heads!"

Adverb

Longest Faulkner novel

A Fable

Wrote Anabasis

Xenophon
The most famous book of the Ancient Greek professional soldier

"We are such stuff as dreams are made on"

The Tempest

Wrote Strength of Fields

James Dickey
It was for Jimmy Carter

Wrote Being and Time, considered to be a founder of existentialism.

Martin Heidegger

This author wrote an extended essay in which she states that women must be lifted out of poverty in order to write good fiction. In a different novel by this author, a character commits suicide after being involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric institution; the title character hears of the suicide of that character, Septimus Smith, at a party she was hosting. In that work by this author, Richard is the "simple" husband of the title character, who is a London high society lady. This author's affair with Vita Sackville-West inspired one work by this author that is both a love letter and a satire; that work is Orlando. For 10 points, name this author of Mrs. Dalloway.

Virginia Woolf

In one novel by this author, two characters get into a duel against two carpetbaggers on Election Day. One of those characters, Drusilla, disappears towards the end of the novel she appears in, but not before giving another character two pistols to defend the family honor against Ben Redmond. That novel is the prequel to another work by this author, in which Bayard becomes a reckless driver and marries Narcissa Benbow. In another work, this author of The Unvanquished and Sartoris also wrote about the thirty-year fall of the Compson family. For 10 points, name this author of The Sound and the Fury.

William Faulkner

In one work by this author, one character becomes an abbot while the other becomes a free-wandering artist; those two characters are Narcissus and Goldmund respectively. In a different work by this author, protagonist Harry Haller receives an advertisement entitled "Treatise on the Steppenwolf". In another work by this author, the citizens of Castalia practically all play the rather difficult-to-understand Glass Bead Game. Another novel by this author features a man who lived during of the time of the Buddha and had the same first name as him, but who sought enlightenment through his own individual experience, rejecting Buddhist philosophy. For 10 points, name this author of Siddhartha.

Herman Hesse

In one work by this author, one character suckers another character's grandfather into gambling away the little money he had. That character, Daniel Quilp, repossesses the title establishment. In another work by this author, one character takes the place of his doppelganger on the guillotine; that work begins with the line "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times". In a different work by this author, Marley's Ghost warns that the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future will visit Ebenezer Scrooge. For 10 points, name this author of The Old Curiosity Shop, A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol.

Charles Dickens

One character in this novel answers "DAVID AND GOLIATH!" when asked who the first two disciples of Jesus were. That embarrassing event occurs after the title character of this novel acquires 1000 tickets to win a newly bound Bible through illicit means, most of which involved trading various knick-knacks. That title character witnesses the graveyard murder of Muff Potter by Injun Joe and later attends his own funeral after he, Joe Harper, and Huckleberry Finn run away to an island. For 10 points, name this novel written by Mark Twain.

Tom Sawyer

In this novel, the title character and her husband attend a ball organized by the Marquis d'Andervilliers, where the title character realizes that her husband is dull. Earlier in this novel, the title character has affairs with Leon Dupuis and Rodolphe Boulanger. After these affairs, she indebts herself and her husband to Lheureux. Much later in this novel, Justin gives the title character rat poison, but she ends up using it to commit suicide instead. In the beginning of this novel, Charles, a small-town doctor, marries the title character and settles with her in Yonville. For 10 points, name this novel written by Gustave Flaubert.

Madame Bovary

In one tragedy by this playwright set near the Brooklyn Bridge, Eddie has an improper affection for his niece Catherine; that tragedy dramatizes mob control and is titled A View from the Bridge. In another work by this playwright, Reverend John Hale is brought in to investigate suspicious events; that work satirized McCarthyism with an allegory to the Salem Witch Trials. In another work by this playwright, one story arc features football player Biff. That story chronicles the adventures of Willy Loman. For 10 points, name this American playwright of The Crucible and Death of a Salesman.

Arthur Miller

This play derives its name from a mythological character who sculpted his idealization of Galatea. The Eynsford-Hills feature in this play, in which two linguists make a bet regarding whether the main character can learn to speak like a duchess. Professor Higgins therefore begins his endeavor to tutor that main character in proper speech, while Colonel Pickering agrees to pay Higgins's costs if he is successful. For 10 points, name this play in which Higgins successfully tutors cockney-speaking Eliza Doolittle, a play by George Bernard Shaw.

Pygmalion

In one work, this author's spiritual crisis is fictionalized in Myra Henshawe, who realizes that human love is inadequate. In a different work by this author, Marie Shabata has an affair with Emil, whose sister becomes a successful farmer even though she's a woman; that character is Alexandra Bergson. In yet another work by this author, after marrying Cuzak, the title character became the mother of a large family on a Nebraska farm. For 10 points, name this author of O Pioneers! and My Antonia.

Willa Cather

In this novel, the protagonist's wife writes a letter suggesting that he take up carpet-dyeing. The protagonist of this novel owns a spoon with the phrase "Ust-Izhma" engraved on it. Toward the beginning of this novel, the protagonist sews a piece of bread into his mattress. Alyoshka the Baptist is part of a work group with the protagonist of this novel; that group is Gang 104.The protagonist of this novel is threatened with three days of solitary confinement for sleeping in. For 10 points, Shukhov is the last name of the protagonist of what Alexander Solzhenitsyn novel set in a prison camp?

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

In one of this author's stories, Newland Archer is in a love triangle with May Welland and Ellen Olenska. For 10 points each - A. Name this author of The Age of Innocence.

Edith Wharton

B. Wharton writes this tragic novel in which Lily Bart dies of a sleeping pill overdose.

The House of Mirth

C. This other tragic Edith Wharton novel details the title character's wish to leave his infirm wife Zeena to elope with her caretaker Mattie Silver; as a result of a suicide pact gone bad, the tables are turned at the end of this novel, with Mattie infirm and Zeena her caretaker.

Ethan Frome

For 10 points each, answer these questions about a certain type of poetry - A. Employed by Petrarch, Spenser and later Shakespeare, this form of poetry features 14 lines and normally is written in iambic pentameter.

sonnet

B. This author wrote a collection of nineteen poems entitled Holy Sonnets; one of those poems is the famous "Death Be Not Proud."

John Donne

C. Although it's not a sonnet, John Donne did write this 36-line love poem which includes an analogy involving a drawing compass.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

For 10 points each, answer these questions about the works of Leo Tolstoy - A. In this novel, Tolstoy describes the trials and tribulations of Count Vronsky and this title princess, the two of whom elope to Italy.

Anna Karenina

B. In this Tolstoy novel, Dmitri Nekhlyudov visits his former maid who was sent to Siberia for a murder she never committed; this completely changed Dmitri's worldview.

Resurrection

C. In this five-act Tolstoy play, Anisija murders her husband to marry Nikita; Nikita then has an affair with his step-daughter, murders the child, and eventually turns himself in.

The Power of Darkness

In this book, the main character is expelled from Pencey Prep. For 10 points each - A. Name this book written by J.D. Salinger, in which Holden Caulfield roams the streets of New York.

The Catcher in the Rye

B. This is the name of Holden's sister, who harbors him in his own home after he is expelled from Pencey Prep.

Phoebe Caulfield

C. Holden misinterprets the meaning of the poem "Comin' Thro' the Rye" by this author, who also wrote the poem "To a Mouse."

Robert Burns

For 10 points each, name these Tennessee Williams plays about romances cut short - A. In this Tennessee Williams play, the romance between Laura Wingfield and Jim O'Connor is cut short when it is found that Jim is engaged. Laura takes pride in this title group of animal figurines.

The Glass Menagerie

B. In this Tennessee Williams play, Reverend Shannon gets intimate with Charlotte Goodall; that romance gets cut short after Charlotte is found to be 16, which meant that Shannon had just committed statutory rape.

The Night of the Iguana

C. This Tennessee Williams play features the romance between Alma Winemiller and John Buchanan. That romance gets cut short when both Alma and John go through a total personality flip, perpetuating their incompatibility.

Summer and Smoke

In this William Shakespeare work, the title character avenges his father's death by killing his uncle. For 10 points each - A. Name this play, in which the title Prince of Denmark kills Claudius.

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

B. Ophelia is the daughter of this character who says "neither a borrower or a lender be." This character is also the father of Laertes.

Polonius

C. This Tom Stoppard play features two childhood friends of Hamlet as the title characters. This play opens with the two title characters betting on coin flips, but the coin comes up heads ninety-two times.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

In this work, the main character threatens to blow up a certain establishment if the object of his affections doesn't marry him. For 10 points each - A. Name this work, of which Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a 1986 musical adaptation.

The Phantom of the Opera

B. The Phantom of the Opera was written by this author, who also wrote The Mystery of the Yellow Room, pioneering the genre of locked-room mysteries.

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux

C. Although the Phantom is known as both the Opera Ghost and the Angel of Music, this is his real name.

Erik

For 10 points each, answer these questions regarding Japanese poetry - A. Name this form of Japanese poetry, which contains three lines and a total of 17 syllables.

Haiku

B. This man was a major writer of haiku; his most famous haiku describes a frog jumping into an old pond.

Matsuo Basho

C. Basho wrote this famous travel narrative detailing his journey to Honshu, much of which is written in haiku.

Narrow Road to the Interior

No self-respecting literature side event would be complete without a Harry Potter bonus, so, for 10 points each - A. Name the author of the Harry Potter series.

J(oanne) K(athleen) Rowling

B. In the first book of the Harry Potter series, this titular object is sought by various people, including Professor Quirrell, who was playing host to the parasite that is Voldemort.

the Sorcerer's Stone

C. This professor of Herbology constantly ends up healing many of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wounds during the course of the series.

Professor Sprout

For 10 points each, name these holy religious works - A. This holy book of Islam contains 114 suras.

Koran (or Qur'an)

B. In this part of the Mahabharata, Krishna shows Arjuna his duty as a warrior.

Bhagavad Gita

C. This set of 17 hymns is central to the Zoroastrian faith.

Avesta

This novel's title character has a library of books that are mostly uncut, signaling that they haven't been read. Towards the end of this novel, Meyer Wolfsheim refuses to attend the funeral for the title character. Earlier in this work, the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are painted on a billboard near the auto repair shop of George Wilson, whose wife is killed by a car crash involving the title character. That wife, Myrtle, was having an affair with Tom Buchanan, which angered his wife Daisy; however, she herself was having an affair with the title character. Nick Carraway is the narrator of - for 10 points - what novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald?

The Great Gatsby

Villagers in this novel are shocked when the main character beats his wife during the Week of Peace. This beating occurs after Ojiugo, that wife, is accused of negligence. The main character of this novel kills Ikemefuna after he is attacked by other men with machetes; this fulfills a prophecy made by One character in this novel is lazy and likes music to a fault. That character, Unoka, has a son who is his antithesis in terms of masculinity. That character is Okonkwo, the protagonist of this novel. No Longer At Ease is the sequel to, for 10 points, what novel by Chinua Achebe?

Things Fall Apart

The narrator and "host" of this book, Harry Bailey, offers a free meal to the best storyteller among his group of travelers in the beginning of this work. One character in this book tells a story about "what women want most". It is generally accepted that the first two stories in this collection are told by the Knight and the Miller, but the order of the rest of the 22 stories in this collection is a point of scholarly debate. Loosely based on the Decameron by Boccaccio, for 10 points, name work in which the aforementioned pilgrims travel to the shrine of Thomas Becket in the title location, a work by Geoffrey Chaucer.

The Canterbury Tales

Azelma is the name of the younger daughter of a family in this novel that abuses an orphan. In the beginning of this novel, the Bishop of Digne lives in a hospital instead of the episcopal palace he is entitled to. Earlier in this novel, the Thenardiers get free labor from a girl that is sent to them by her mother Fantine; that girl ends up falling in love with and later marrying Marius. That girl, Cosette, is raised by a man with the pseudonym of Father Madeleine, who himself is pursued by Javert when he is found to be the ex-convict Jean Valjean. For 10 points, name this novel, which was written by Victor Hugo.

Les Miserables

One character in this novel has his internal organs spill after he's mortally wounded. That experience causes the main character of this novel to stop wearing his uniform in protest. In this novel, one character only sees people in his office when he is not there, and was promoted by "an IBM machine with a sense of humor almost as keen as his father's". That character received a promotion to the rank of Major. A different character attempts to gain a military promotion by making his men fly more and more army missions. For 10 points, name this novel featuring the pilot Yossarian, a novel by Joseph Heller.

Catch-22

One character in this book gave another character a note asking her to elope. The character that received that note instead married another man. A different character's father threatened to disown him after he chose to marry a poor girl; that character's name is George Osborne. Later in this book, William Dobbin courts Amelia Sedley, George's widow; however, Amelia refuses to marry him until she sees proof that George gave the aforementioned note to Becky Sharp. For 10 points, what "novel without a hero" was written by William Makepeace Thackeray?

Vanity Fair

In this novel, the main character and her brother are taken to First Purchase Church by Calpurnia, who is treated rudely when Aunt Alexandra decides to stay at the main character's house for a while. The main character's father shoots a bad dog; that event occurs after that father controversially takes the case of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Go Set a Watchman is the sequel to this novel, often considered a bildungsroman about the daughter of Atticus Finch. For 10 points, name this novel about Scout, written by Harper Lee.

To Kill a Mockingbird

In a play by this author, a case of mistaken identity causes one person to pretend to be an important government official; he almost sends the mayor to Siberia, but the real title character of a play by this author eventually arrives to set everything straight. In a different work by this author, a baker finds the title body part in a piece of bread; Major Kovalyov wakes up only to find himself missing that same title body part. In another work by this author, Petrovich tells Akaky Bashmachkin that he needs to buy a replacement for the title object. For 10 points, name this author of The Inspector General, The Nose, and The Overcoat.

Nikolai Gogol

In one work by this author, Michael Henchard and his antithesis, Donald Farfrae, successively hold the title position. In a different work by this author, Gabriel Oak falls in love with Bathsheba Everdene; that novel's title comes from a line in Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, in which Gray describes the titular group's "ignoble strife". In another work by this author, the title character murders her lover Alec; she is therefore not "A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented", not even if this author says so. For 10 points, name this author of Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

Thomas Hardy

This book features the "other disciple"; that disciple is unnamed and is traditionally believed to be the title author of this biblical book. This Biblical book contains seven signs, culminating in Lazarus rising from the dead. At one point in this book, Nicodemus inquires as to how a man can be born again; Jesus then proclaims, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son". That world-famous line is part of chapter three, verse sixteen of this book. For 10 points, name this non-synoptic Gospel, the fourth book found in the New Testament.

Gospel of John

For 10 points each, name these Agatha Christie mystery works - A. Justice John Wargrave lures ten criminals who have murdered people directly or indirectly onto an island. All of those characters die in this Agatha Christie novel.

And Then There Were None

B. This Christie work was the first to feature her mainstay Hercule Poirot, who settled in England near Emily Inglethorp.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

C. Tradition states that at the end of this Agatha Christie play, the audience is given a gag order not to reveal the identity of the murderer of Maureen Lyon.

The Mousetrap

This author wrote 1800 poems that were published posthumously by her sister Lavinia. For 10 points each - A. Name this author, who wrote "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" and was a recluse for most of her later adult life.

Emily Dickinson

B. This poem by Emily Dickinson discusses the title character's civility, but not before noting how he"kindly stopped for me."

"Because I Could Not Stop for Death"

C. In addition to "Because I Could Not Stop for Death", Dickinson also wrote this poem, which includes the lines, "The stillness in the room / Was like the stillness in the air / Between the heaves of storm."

"I heard a fly buzz when I died"

For 10 points each, name these Fyodor Dostoyevsky works - A. Rodion Raskolnikov is the main character of this book; he murders a pawnbroker then uses her cash to do good deeds in atonement.

Crime and Punishment

B. Dmitri, Ivan and Alexei are the sons of Fyodor Pavlovich in this Dostoyevsky work.

The Brothers Karamazov

C. In this semi-autobiographical work, Aleksandr Goryanchikov spends ten years in a Siberian prison camp.

The House of the Dead

For 10 points each, name these fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen - A. The movie Frozen is not really based on this Andersen fairy tale at all; this work instead tells the tale of Gerda rescuing Kay from the palace of the title character.

The Snow Queen

B. The main character of this work, also by Andersen, will dissolve into sea foam unless she marries her prince, which is made difficult by the fact that she can't speak.

The Little Mermaid

C. A tiny girl breaks out of her flower in this Andersen work.

Thumbelina

For 10 points each, name these works which were all written by authors who have the last name of Brontë - A. Spoiler alert: At the end of this novel by Charlotte Brontë the titular protagonist marries Mr. Rochester.

Jane Eyre

B. Emily Brontë only wrote one novel, namely, Wuthering Heights. In it, Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange in Yorkshire; this is the name of his landlord.

Heathcliff

C. This Anne Brontë work tells the story of Helen Graham Huntington, who occupies the title abandoned estate belonging to her mother's family.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

For 10 points each, name these Nathaniel Hawthorne works set in Puritanical towns in the 17th century - A. In this Hawthorne novel, Hester Prynne must wear the title object on her dress because she committed adultery with preacher Arthur Dimmesdale.

The Scarlet Letter

B. In this short story by Hawthorne, the protagonist sees his wife at a witches' sabbath and becomes cynical as a result.

Young Goodman Brown

C. When Mr. Hooper starts wearing the title object of this short story by Hawthorne, he preaches about secret sin; he then wore the title object of this short story until the end of his life.

The Minister's Black Veil

William Shakespeare's name is in this packet set three times, but who cares? For 10 points each - A. "Two houses, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona" is the setting of this tragedy featuring a Montague and a Capulet.

Romeo and Juliet

B. Name this Shakespeare play in which the title character knows the answer to a riddle, but can't say it because it would bring scandal to king Antiochus and certain death to himself.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

C. Name this Shakespeare play, in which the title king is killed by Richmond, who ascends to the throne as Henry VII at the end of the play.

Richard III

For 10 points each, name these Walt Whitman elegies about Abraham Lincoln - A. In this Whitman poem, notably featured in Dead Poets' Society, the United States of America is the allegorical ship steered by Abraham Lincoln.

O Captain! My Captain!