Question 1

Which classic novel opens with the line: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife"?

Accepted Answer

Pride and Prejudice. This famous opening line begins Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice.

Question 2

Who is the narrator of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick?

Accepted Answer

Ishmael. The novel opens with the iconic phrase "Call me Ishmael," establishing Ishmael as the narrator of the voyage.

Question 3

In F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, who serves as the first-person narrator?

Accepted Answer

Nick Carraway. The events of The Great Gatsby are recounted through the perspective of Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbor in West Egg.

Question 4

What is the official subtitle of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein?

Accepted Answer

The Modern Prometheus. Mary Shelley subtitled the novel The Modern Prometheus, referencing the Greek Titan who created mankind from clay and defied the gods.

Question 5

In Miguel de Cervantes's classic 17th-century novel Don Quixote, what is the name of the protagonist's faithful squire?

Accepted Answer

Sancho Panza. Sancho Panza accompanies Don Quixote on his misadventures, acting as a realistic foil to Quixote's delusions.

Question 6

In George Orwell's classic dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, who is the figurehead leader of Oceania's ruling Party?

Accepted Answer

Big Brother. Big Brother is the mysterious leader and poster figurehead of the totalitarian regime in Orwell's novel.

Question 7

What was the real name of the author who wrote the 1871–1872 novel Middlemarch under the pen name George Eliot?

Accepted Answer

Mary Ann Evans. Mary Ann Evans adopted the male pen name George Eliot so her works would be taken seriously in 19th-century Britain.

Question 8

Over the course of which single calendar day do the events of James Joyce's modernist masterpiece Ulysses take place?

Accepted Answer

16 June 1904. Ulysses chronicles the movements of Leopold Bloom in Dublin on 16 June 1904, a day now celebrated worldwide as Bloomsday.

Question 9

In what year was Charles Dickens's historical novel A Tale of Two Cities first published?

Accepted Answer

1859. A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859 in Dickens's literary periodical All the Year Round and as a standalone book.

Question 10

In what language is the very first spoken dialogue in Leo Tolstoy's original text of War and Peace delivered?

Accepted Answer

French. War and Peace opens in a St. Petersburg salon with dialogue spoken in French, reflecting the language favored by the Russian aristocracy of the era.

Question 11

In Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre, Mr. Rochester's primary estate is named Pemberley.

Accepted Answer

False. Mr. Rochester's estate in Jane Eyre is Thornfield Hall; Pemberley is the estate belonging to Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Question 12

Oscar Wilde's only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890.

Accepted Answer

True. The story initially appeared in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine before being revised and expanded for book publication in 1891.

Question 13

Emily Brontë was the author of the 1847 Gothic novel Wuthering Heights.

Accepted Answer

True. Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights, which was her only published novel, originally under the pen name Ellis Bell.

Classic novels