A new series beginning in 1800.
Beginning in the early years of the novel – as we know and love it – each quiz covers a decade of literary events – 2 questions per year. Births, deaths, publications, events; fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays and books for children.
-
Question of
1920 – Amory Blaine was the protagonist in F Scott Fitzgerald’s debut novel. What was it called?
-
This Side of Paradise
-
The Beautiful and the Damned
-
-
Question of
1920 – The Mysterious Affair at Styles was Agatha Christie’s first published novel. Which great detective did it introduce to the world?
-
Hercule Poirot
-
Miss Marple
-
-
Question of
1921 – Edith Wharton becomes the first woman to win which major prize for her novel The Age of Innocence?
-
Pulitzer
-
Nobel
-
-
Question of
1921 – ‘My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people.’ Which writer was born in Texas on January 19th?
-
Patricia Highsmith
-
Ray Bradbury
-
-
Question of
1922 – Which famous poem begins: ‘April is the cruellest month…’?
-
The Waste Land
-
Sailing to Byzantium
-
-
Question of
1922 – In the delightful Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams what does the little boy become ill from, carefully watched over by the rabbit?
-
Scarlet Fever
-
Whooping Cough
-
-
Question of
1923 – Which Shakespeare plas is put on at The Old Vic using the full original text for the first time since Shakespeare’s times?
-
Titus Andronicus
-
Pericles
-
-
Question of
1923 – Dorothy L Sayers introduces the world to Lord Peter Wimsey in her novel Whose Body? Where is the body found?
-
In a bath
-
In the conservatory
-
-
Question of
1924 – A book of poetry by AA Milne entitled When We Were Very Young introduced the world to which beloved character?
-
Winnie the Pooh
-
Tigger
-
-
Question of
1924 – What is the surname of the dysfunctional family at the heart of O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock?
-
Boyle
-
Bentham
-
-
Question of
1925 – Which great American novel finishes with the line: ‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’
-
The Great Gatsby
-
An American Tragedy
-
-
Question of
1925 – In the famous opening sentence of Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, what did Mrs Dalloway decide to buy for herself?
-
Flowers
-
Curtain fabric
-
-
Question of
1926 – Finish the title of the story in AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh: In Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a —
-
Woozle
-
Heffalump
-
-
Question of
1926 – Agatha Christie famously disappears from Surrey and is found in North Yorkshire. How many days was she missing?
-
11 days
-
22 days
-
-
Question of
1927 – Woolf’s To the Lighthouse mainly uses what literary technique?
-
Stream of consciousness
-
Synesthesia
-
-
Question of
1927 – Who wrote the children’s classic The Midnight Folk?
-
John Masefield
-
Hugh Lofting
-
-
Question of
1928 – Lady Chatterley’s Lover is first published in which country?
-
Italy
-
France
-
-
Question of
1928 – ‘Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.’ Which writer and activist was born in Missouri on April 4th?
-
Maya Angelou
-
Martin Luther King
-
-
Question of
1929 – The first sound film of a Shakespeare play stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks – in which play?
-
Taming of the Shrew
-
Romeo and Juliet
-
-
Question of
1929 – Which novel of the great war begins: ‘We are at rest five miles behind the front…’
-
All Quiet on the Western Front
-
Parade’s End
-