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About This Quiz
Of all the many different arts that come together to make up the tapestry of culture, none is more human than writing. The written language is as old as civilization, and forms a critical bridge for bringing people together- not merely across the gulf of space and distance, but through time itself. Through the magic of the written word, our minds become the recipients of thoughts from other people from other places. We can live their lives and dream their dreams. It is an extraordinary gift, and the pinnacle of our art.
Here we have gathered a list of some of the greatest writers in all of human history. The places where their pens touch paper are magical: the words they craft are not mere temporal entertainments, but treasures to be valued for all time. They come to us from around the world, from every color and creed, bringing messages that echo down through the ages.
How much do you know about these writers? Can you recognize greatness when it sits in front of you? Be prepared to test your ability to discern the finest writing minds our world has to offer. Take a breath, turn the page, and go!Â
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Who herein wrote that timeless classic "A Christmas Carol"?
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens has enormous influence on the progress of English fiction, but the way he wrote was fairly new- he wrote in a serial style, chapters at a time, often ending on cliffhangers. He would then gauge his audience's response, and make changes to better suit their desires. In this he clearly anticipated modern television and comics.
Ray Bradbury
Jack Kerouac
Robert Louis Stevenson
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Who below brought us The War of the Worlds?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells, often called the Father of Science Fiction, is best known for the genre he helped craft. Besides his futurism, however, he also contributed his progressive social and economic views, which oftimes were interwoven with his prose.
Arthur Conan Doyle
John Payne
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Which writer here brought the world Hamlet?
Chaucer
Marcel Proust
John Updike
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, is arguably the single greatest writer in the entire history of the English language. Harold Bloom said this: "Shakespeare is the true multicultural author. He exists in all languages. He is put on the stage everywhere. Everyone feels that they are represented by him on the stage."
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Which writer brought us the Grapes of Wrath?
John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck was the plainspeaking champion of the California everyman, and themes on fate and injustice, interwoven with his wry sense of humor, are found throughout his works.
James Baldwin
Johnathan Swift
Jack Keruac
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Who below gave us The Lord of the Rings?
Neil Gaiman
Joseph Conrad
J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien was not merely a writer, but also a professor and philologist. He is best known for The Hobbit and his masterwork The Lord of the Rings. Much of his inspiration is said to have come from reading a translation of the Finnish national legend, The Kalevala.
William Wordsworth
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Who here wrote The Sound and the Fury?
WEB Dubois
Miguel de Cervantes
William Faulkner
One of the greatest American Southern authors, William Faulkner is the only man from Mississippi to have won a Nobel Prize for literature. His novel, The Sound and the Fury, is considered one of the greatest modern works of all time.
Steven King
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Who here is the parent of Frankenstein?
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley's rainy summer with her husband and the Lord Byron took a strange turn when they decided that they would invent ghost stories. Though initially struggling to think of one, this proved the seed of the idea that was to lead to Frankenstein: Or, A Modern Prometheus.
Zadie Smith
Alice Walker
Harper Lee
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Which of these men wrote Moby Dick: Or, The Whale?
Norman Mailer
Edgar Allen Poe
Herman Melville
Herman Melville's writing style fluctuated enormously over the course of his works, but it hit its apex after he finally discovered Shakespeare- it was the Bard's influence that brought him into the style that ran through Moby Dick, one of the greatest novels ever written in America.
James Baldwin
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Which august personage wrote War and Peace?
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy, who was in fact a count in the Russian nobility, was a Russian Anarchist with pacifist Christian views. He later became a convert to the economic views of the Georgists, which even found their way into his writings.
Mark Twain
Charles Dickens
John Updike
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Which of these people brought us Les Miserables?
Robert Frost
T.S. Eliot
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo is known in the English speaking world for his books, like Les Miserables, but in France itself he is actually better known for his collections of poetry. A passionate supporter of Republicanism, this anti-aristocratic spirit frequently shines through in his work.
Daniel Dafoe
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Which writer below penned The Sun Also Rises?
Goethe
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway lived a lifetime of public adventure and secret sorrow. His great novels were inspired by his experiences in war zones, but writing did not manage to exorcise his inner demons, and he eventually took his own life.
Homer
Roald Dahl
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Which writer here brought us Jane Eyre?
Alice Walker
Charlotte Bronte
Charlotte Bronte originally published her works under a pseudonym, Currer Bell, so as to avoid discrimination for her sex. Her Jane Eyre is now one of the most beloved novels of all time!
Zadie Smith
Willa Cather
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Which of these authors brought us The Jungle Book?
H.P. Lovecraft
Walt Whitman
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling was one of the most beloved writers in the United Kingdom, but his legacy today is tarnished by his politics. He is seen as an unapologetic force for Imperialism and colonialism, with all that entails.
Nikolai Gogol
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Who here wrote Huckleberry Finn?
J.R.R. Tolkien
WEB Dubois
Mark Twain
Mark Twain is world famous as one of America's most beloved humorists, and his unique voice was invaluable in paving the way for a truly American literature. Near the end of his life he formed a special club for girls who he would mentor and spend time with, and those were some of the finest days of his life.
Miguel de Cervantes
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Who wrote The Count of Monte Cristo?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Edgar Allan Poe
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas was not merely a brilliant writer of adventurous fiction, but he also had an incredibly unusual heritage for one of his accomplishments- his father was a former slave from Haiti! In France. This meant he faced enormous challenges his entire life but he did so with his trademark humor and pride.
Salman Rushdie
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Which of these fine writers brought us Pride and Prejudice?
Mary Shelley
Jane Austen
Jane Austen's works embodied her scything wit and biting use of irony, but more than that her criticism of the sentimentality of the novels of her age proved a key part in the transition to literary realism, of which her work was a forerunner.
Emily Bronte
Truman Capote
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Who below wrote Uncle Vanya?
Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov is known for his exceedingly precise, spare texts. Everything has a purpose. This is summed up in his quote: "Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there." This concept is known as Chekhov's Gun.
Miguel de Cervantes
Charles Dickens
Kurt Vonnegut
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Who here wrote The Bell Jar?
Sylvia Plath
Sylvia Plath was a haunted soul. Her incredible writing talent could not soothe the depression she suffered from, and she made multiple attempts on her own life. In spite of treatment that included electroshock therapy, she eventually did kill herself at the tender age of 30.
Kate Chopin
Maya Angelou
John Milton
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Whose pen created I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?
Shirley Jackson
Louisa May Alcott
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a permanent classic of African American literature. Discussing the experiences of a young Angelou, it follows her young life and her struggles with her identity, her family and American racism.
Joan Didion
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Who wrote Madame Bovary?
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert was a total perfectionist about his art: He might spend days out of contact with others to craft even a scant few pages. He used words sparingly with an eye toward finding "the perfect word," and was great inspiration to Kafka.
Victor Hugo
Herman Melville
John Steinbeck
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Who among these writers created One Hundred Years of Solitude?
Marcel Proust
George Orwell
Rudyard Kipling
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is best known for his beloved fictional village of Macondo, at which several of his stories are based. He also was the chief popularizer of Magical Realism, which integrates oftimes unexplained supernatural elements into otherwise real world stories.
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Who wrote "The Idiot"?
J.R.R. Tolkien
Rudyard Kipling
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky's works are deeply concerned with matters of human psychology, morality and theology. Beyond this, he is concerned a pioneer in the area of existentialist writing. Russian to the core, he unsurprisingly also found Orthodox Christianity to be the perfect embodiment of that religion.
C.S. Lewis
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Who among these august personages wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray?
Oscar Wilde
The brilliant Oscar Wilde's life and career were ruined due to his homosexuality. He was arrested for this and imprisoned, and an injury he sustained while imprisoned led to his premature death. He remains a symbol of the gay rights movement today.
Friedrich Schiller
William Faulkner
Herman Hesse
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Which writer here crafted To the Lighthouse?
C.S. Lewis
Sylvia Plath
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf is considered not only an incredible author but also an early herald of what would become the feminist movement. Tragically, she suffered from what was probably bipolar disorder, and she committed suicide at the age of 59.
J.K. Rowling
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....And who created Don Quixote?
Dante Alighieri
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes was relatively rare in that his genius was recognized in his time- his Don Quixote actually sold very well! Living quite an adventurous life himself, he is notable for having spent five years as a captive of the Barbary Pirates!
Virgil
Arthur Conan Doyle
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Which of these authors wrote 1984?
Oscar Wilde
Herman Melville
George Orwell
George Orwell, whose real name was Eric Blair, is best known for his political fiction works 1984 and Animal Farm. Besides his politics, however, he has made numerous contributions to the English language through his work, including concepts like Thoughtcrime and Newspeak.
Ralph Ellison
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Which of these writers wrote The Bluest Eye?
Sophocles
Shirley Jackson
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison's writing bears a lot of traits that would be described as feminist, but the writer herself did not agree. She did not identify as feminist, and said: "In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've ever done, in the writing world, has been to expand articulation, rather than to close it, to open doors, sometimes, not even closing the book – leaving the endings open for reinterpretation, revisitation, a little ambiguity."
Flannery O'Connor
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Which writer here was known for their collected volume titled Complete Stories?
Jane Austen
Toni Morrison
Mary Shelley
Flannery O’Connor
Flannery O’Connor was a writer in the Southern Gothic style, and her characters often had an air of darkness around them as they struggled with ethical dilemmas. She did not agree with the description of them being "grotesque," however, saying, "Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic."
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Who brought us The Souls of Black Folk?
WEB Dubois
WEB Dubois was scintillatingly brilliant, and as a person of color in the post Civil War United States, he unsurprisingly made the topic of racism his main concern, particularly Jim Crow laws and the lynchings that were all too common at that time.
Gustave Flaubert
Albert Camus
Lewis Carroll
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Who brought us Their Eyes Were Watching God?
Agatha Christie
Jane Austen
Margaret Atwood
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was a major player in the Harlem Renaissance, writing books about the African American experience in the United States and the racism that went alongside it.
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Which of these authors brought us Ulysses?
James Joyce
James Joyce was a Dubliner born, and the city and his experiences there informed every part of his work. The characters of his fictions, which were often experiments into stream of consciousness and other unusual inventions, were reflections of the people he knew, loved and hated in that great city.
Charles Dickens
Gustave Flaubert
Anton Chekhov
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Who created Invisible Man?
Jack London
Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison was a complicated literary figure: His Invisible Man became famous for many different things; its portrayal of different forms of regional racism and its discussion of communism among them. Ellison's on-again off-again connection to the communist party would, along with his frank discussions of racism, form a challenging legacy.
Ray Bradbury
Kurt Vonnegut
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Which great writer wrote Lolita?
James Joyce
Toni Morrison
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, about a man's obsession with a pre-teen girl, was ranked fourth on the list of the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels. Besides his extraordinary writing, Nabokov is known in certain circles for his skill in composing chess puzzles!
John Steinbeck
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Who crafted the novel titled Middlemarch?
T.S. Eliot
George Eliot
George Eliot was not George Eliot, but rather Mary Ann Evans! She used a male pen name to ensure her writing got the serious criticism it deserved. Her novel Middlemarch has been described by some as the single greatest novel in all of English.
Albert Camus
Oscar Wilde
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Which author wrote In Search of Lost Time?
Victor Hugo
Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust was born into a France in great social turmoil, and it is said to have been the cauldron in which his works were born. The fall of the Paris commune and subsequent 3rd Republic saw the decline of the old aristocracy and the gradual rise to prominence of the French middle classes.
Ralph Ellison
Franz Kafka
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Which writer journeyed into the Heart of Darkness?
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad's view of humanity sees a dispassionate, rational universe in which we make trials and tribulations for ourselves. His characters are frequently anti-heroic, and they challenge the readers to peer into the darkest places in the human spirit. No more so than Heart of Darkness, which was eventually recast as the famous film Apocalypse Now.
Steven King
Charles Dickens
Upton Sinclair
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Which of these writers wrote This Side of Paradise?
William Faulkner
H.G. Wells
Joseph Conrad
F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald, despite being known as one of America's greatest writing talents, only composed four novels. His relationship with his wife Zelda was itself worthy of inclusion in one of his books, them both being freewheeling products of the jazz age.
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Who created The Trial?
Jorge Luis Borges
Albert Camus
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka's work fills his writers with dark, terrible beauty and intense loneliness. His works abound with father-son conflict, and also look at alienation from society, the feeling of being a perpetual outsider.
J.D. Salinger
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Who below is responsible for The Screwtape Letters?
Jules Verne
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis was a close friend with Tolkien, and it is the latter who brought him to Christianity. That religion would of course go on to inform every aspect of his work, fiction and nonfiction alike.
Goethe
Roald Dahl
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Which of these ladies wrote a book of poetry called Enough Rope?
Emily Dickinson
Anna Proulx
J.K. Rowling
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker, like many above, had to change her name to avoid unwanted scrutiny- in her case due to her jewish background. Her gift for screenwriting was sadly interrupted by her being blacklisted as a potential communist by Hollywood.
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You Got:
/40
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