Topic: Never-Ending Fiction Quiz

[tarascon]

                                                                

EDIT: Using any work of fiction (novel, play, poem, etc.), post a title and a question about the piece. It doesn't have to be what's in the body of the work... for example, it can be about the author, genesis, date of publication, or it's influence on other arts like music or film. The next person answers it and then posts a new question, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

Example. Lolita. What was Lolita's mother's name? Answer: Charlotte Haze.

>> Here's the question: In The Silmarillion, Annatar is an alias--who is he?

[xtopave]

A question, tarascon (when we refine things you/I can modify your post so everything is clear in the 1st post).
Do we need to post proof to go on?
In this case: Is it Sauron?
If I'm correct:
In One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad), which is the name of the town where the novel takes place?

[tarascon]

A question, tarascon (when we refine things you/I can modify your post so everything is clear in the 1st post).
Do we need to post proof to go on?

Good question. I thought about that and proof might be a difficult thing to show in every case. Just post an answer that you think is correct (with a hyperlink, if you want) and if it's wrong someone down the line can point that out. Also, posts don't have to use the name of the author; it's optional.
And, yes, Sauron is right. 

do we just carry on or wait for conformation ?

Just carry on. Like I said, if it's wrong, someone might point out the correct answer (with a careful online search, responses should be right). And hopefully most posters will scan the earlier posts. This thread is really about learning about novels. This system seems awkward but I can't think of any other way to do this. And I didn't want to have another game which uses points as a "win."
Thanks for the interest folks.

In Under Milk Wood, who was the omnipresent narrator

There's more than one (unnamed) narrator and not necessarily a person from fictitious Llareggub. I double checked this on Wiki and it has the number wrong.


>> The Invention of Morel is an interesting novel by Adolfo Bioy Casares which, as far as I know, has two links to film.
The first one is that it's a book being read by Sawyer on the TV series Lost (I used to pause the disk to see if I could make out the titles of the books he's reading--yep, I'm that much of a book geek). What is the other film connection?

Spoiler (hover to show)

Hint: the script was written by Alain Robbe-Grillet.

Please reread my OP for changes. 

[goldshirt*9]

will answer but not now, Head is a spin from an awful day of early to work / helping delivery leaflets for daughter and being attacked by a dog. 

Not a good fathers day to say the least.

[smokester]

Is this just for clever folk, or can anybody play?

[xtopave]

Oh, oh, I know this, I know this!! I'm not much of a reader so I'll answer now that I can. 

L'Année dernière à Marienbad?

I've found two other film connections with the novel:
L'invenzione di Morel (1974) and L'invention de Morel (1967)

Is this just for clever folk, or can anybody play?

If can answer then anybody can play! 

being attacked by a dog. 

WTF?! 

Here's the next one:
In Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) there's a blind librarian. What is his name and why did Eco called him like that?

[tarascon]

Oh, oh, I know this, I know this!! I'm not much of a reader so I'll answer now that I can. 

L'Année dernière à Marienbad?

I've found two other film connections with the novel:
L'invenzione di Morel (1974) and L'invention de Morel (1967)

Nice!! I didn't know about those last two. 

Here's the next one:
In Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) there's a blind librarian. What is his name and why did Eco called him like that?

Jorge. Named for Jorge Luis Borges.


>> Let's go with librarian trivia again... In the short story "The Dunwich Horror" at which institution does Henry Armitage work?

[Nobby]

Miskatonic University.

In 3001: The Final Odyssey
what is Frank Poole missing ?
 

[tarascon]

It's been years since I read it but I recall Frank Poole as being... flat. I'd say that he's missing a personality... emotions. 

[Nobby]

Not "a personality... emotions."
According to Aurora McAuley...

[tarascon]

Ha ha. OK. Fair game... Now that you've mentioned her, I remember her from the book. She wanted sex, I think, and Franky-boy couldn't. So...

Spoiler (hover to show)

I'm not a richard. 

[Nobby]

Not the full Richard but near enough
--- lol 

[tarascon]

Sneaky Nobby, hee hee hee. That was a total guess on my part but mentioning Aurora McAuley helped.

The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison is an early 20th century fantasy (published 1922). Though it's set on an unlikely "Mercury" and the names of the countries seem a bit hokey today, the book was much admired by Tolkien and others in it's day.
What is the ruler of Witchland's name?


Note: Each king of Witchland has the same name but goes by a different number (for example, Nobby VI, Nobby IX...). So don't worry about the exact number... just the name.

[Nobby]

 King Gorice XI

What is the secondary ability of the eponymous hero
of the Philip K richard short story which was the basis
of a Nic Cage Film.

[tarascon]

What is the secondary ability of the eponymous hero
of the Philip K richard short story which was the basis
of a Nic Cage Film.

^ For the next poster; I don't want to hog this thread. Should we try to figure out a system to reward correct answers... one that is less involved than the point system we use on the Name That Movie thread? Personally, I just wanted an "interactive" book thread where we can share and learn stuff.

[xtopave]

Should we try to figure out a system to reward correct answers... one that is less involved than the point system we use on the Name That Movie thread?

Oooh... Gin and Tonic!! Unless it's that or maybe ice cream I'm not interested. 

What is the secondary ability of the eponymous hero
of the Philip K richard short story which was the basis
of a Nic Cage Film.

Cris turns out to possess another power; his golden skin acts like a lion's mane and allows him to seduce members of the opposite sex.
Sooo, women are weak, can't control their urges and they're responsible for the end of humankind?!
Ummmnn...Phillip, you are a richard! 

Next:
What's the meaning of the name of the Captain in "Vingt mille lieues sous les mers"?

[Nobby]

Nemo is a Latin word meaning "no man" or "no one"

What is curious about the authorship of 'The Outward Urge'
and/or  'I, Robot' (not the Asimov one).

[tarascon]

The not-Asimov I, Robot was written by Eando Binder. E. Binder was actually Earl and Otto Binder.
The Outward Urge is by John Wyndham and Lucas Parkes and these "two" authors are actually just Mr. Wyndham.

>> Mynheer Peeperkorn is a character in The Magic Mountain. The other, more (or less) intellectual, characters in the novel cannot resist Herr Peeperkorn's "sensual, incoherent, and tyrannical" force. In Nietzschean terms, what does he represent?

[xtopave]

A Dionysian figure?

In Fahrenheit 451, what are the three symbols in the firemen's uniform?

[6pairsofshoes]

Sounds rather Apollonian to me.

It's been a while since I read Fahrenheit 451, so I'll guess:  axe, flames, and some other implement of destruction, shovel?

[tarascon]

A Dionysian figure is correct. 

In Fahrenheit 451, what are the three symbols in the firemen's uniform?

The uniform features the phoenix, salamander, and 451 because that's the temperature at which paper catches fire.

>> The protagonist of Going to the Sun by James McManus is a woman named Penny Culligan. Which disease does she suffer from?

[xtopave]

The protagonist of Going to the Sun by James McManus is a woman named Penny Culligan. Which disease does she suffer from?

She's a diabetic. For what I've read McManus is a diabetic himself. And a poker player.

What are the slogans in Nineteen Eighty-Four?

[tarascon]

                                                 

Spoiler (hover to show)

1. WAR IS PEACE
2. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
3. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH


Despite its title, Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, is a work of fiction. Which specific word (usually used when referring to some computer text) describes what makes this an unusual novel?

[6pairsofshoes]

bitmap, unless you are referring to dot matrix as in printers

[Nobby]

HyperText ? --- It has a Male + Female volume ?

[tarascon]

Hyperlink/hypertext is the answer I was looking for. 

Nobby, you wanna post the next question?

[Nobby]

How does the ending of the 'Day of the Triffids' film
differ from that of the book ?

[6pairsofshoes]

                                                 

Spoiler (hover to show)

1. WAR IS PEACE
2. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
3. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH


Despite its title, Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, is a work of fiction. Which specific word (usually used when referring to some computer text) describes what makes this an unusual novel?

Hypertext is a markup language, not a text or form of typography.

[tarascon]

Hypertext is a markup language, not a text or form of typography.

Pavic's novel features font coloring different from the rest of the text (if I recall; it may be underlined...) and directs the reader to another entry... making the book a non-linear read. It's not my intention to say that you are mistaken in your definition of what markup language is (though to my understanding it's symbols and/or codes which structures any given web page display and is not the text itself on a page) and suggesting Pavic's novel does not use hypertext but I'd like to quote from the link below.
"The first English edition was published in 1988. In the intervening years, the book has become required reading for many college-level English classes. Dictionary of the Khazars has a very interesting blend of fiction and non-fiction. It is also notable for its literary use of hypertext."
http://www.khazaria.com/pavic.html
 
So, who wants to take this one? 

How does the ending of the 'Day of the Triffids' film
differ from that of the book ?

[6pairsofshoes]

I've only seen the movie, but would be interested in knowing what the difference is.

Re:  Pavic's novel.  If that sort of interactive text interests you, you might want to check out the more staid but still clever organizational strategies of Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch.

[xtopave]

How does the ending of the 'Day of the Triffids' film
differ from that of the book ?

So, who wants to take this one? 

Not that I wasn't interested but, just as 6p, I've only seen the movie, and I had to investigate the book:
Film: Triffids are killed with sea water and humankind is safe.
Book: Not surprisingly, it has an open ending:

So we must think of the task ahead as ours alone. We believe now that we can see our way, but there is
still a lot of work and research to be done before the day when we, or our children, or their children, will
cross the narrow straits on a great crusade to drive the triffids back and back with ceaseless destruction
until we have wiped out the last one of them from the face of the land that they have usurped.

...staid but still clever organizational strategies of Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch.

I've never thought I'd heard that about Rayuela!! 

Now that we're at it: Cortázar opens the novel quoting a text from another author. What's particular about that text?

[tarascon]

Re:  Pavic's novel.  If that sort of interactive text interests you, you might want to check out the more staid but still clever organizational strategies of Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch.

OMG. That book was a headache. lol

Now that we're at it: Cortázar opens the novel quoting a text from another author. What's particular about that text?

The quote by a certain "Abbot Martini" opens the book; the abbot and his quote may be (probably is, since I could find nothing about him online) an invention of Cortazar and supposedly was written near the end of the Enlightenment era--indicating that dry rationalism will soon be followed by playful absurdity. In other words, it presages what the book in the reader's hands represents... a fluid, whimsical game of words, meanings, and sexual politics. One more thing, Martini states that his advice to youths is a "collection of maxims, counsels, and precepts" and seems to promise some dead ends which more-or-less describes Hopscotch itself.

Spoiler (hover to show)

PS I only will post questions about things I've actually read so that I can be sure I'm not asking unanswerable and misleading questions. Also, I always double-check online to be certain that the answers exist for anyone who may not have read the particular work of fiction. I'd like this thread to be fun and informative.

>> My OP features a work of art by William Blake and shows Urizen. What does he embody for Blake?

[xtopave]

The quote by a certain "Abbot Martini" opens the book; the abbot and his quote may be (probably is, since I could find nothing about him online) an invention of Cortazar and supposedly was written near the end of the Enlightenment era--indicating that dry rationalism will soon be followed by playful absurdity. In other words, it presages what the book in the reader's hands represents... a fluid, whimsical game of words, meanings, and sexual politics. One more thing, Martini states that his advice to youths is a "collection of maxims, counsels, and precepts" and seems to promise some dead ends which more-or-less describes Hopscotch itself.

Nice approach tarascon.
Honestly I trusted my memory (and failed!!) and I was aiming for the next text by "César Bruto" that's deliberately full of spelling mistakes. 

[tarascon]

That was tough one xtopave and, though I'd read the book, I had to check online to make sure I wasn't tripping; that my post approximated the answer to your question. The funny thing is, I read, "Cesar Bruto" is the pseudonym of an actual writer. I fully expect folks to use search engines. 

>> My OP features a work of art by William Blake and shows Urizen. What does he embody for Blake?

[xtopave]

I have not read Blake but for what I have read Urizen embodies reason and law but with a repressive and authoritative connotation. Interestingly the name Urizen might (or might not) derive from a greek verb meaning "to bound, limit".

In The Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft describes everything related to Cthulhu and R'lyeh with one color. Which color is that?

And also try to pronounce Cthulhu without spitting on your screen. 

[tarascon]

OK, I'll bite. 

"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars." Green and slimy (of course!).

Spoiler (hover to show)

R'lyeh: coordinates given as S. Latitude 49° 51′ S, Longitude 128° 34′ W....
Fact ...In 1997 Navy sensors detected a very large noise (being picked up on two different sensors 3000 miles apart) being produced at Latitude 50° S, Longitude 120° W. This sound (now known as 'Bloop') is not thought to correspond to any known living or non-living source, and as such, remains unexplained.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

>> The Bone Clocks is a novel by David Mitchel told with multiple narrators. Two of them are Hugo Lamb who uses the pseudonym "Marcus Anyder" for criminal activities and Crispin Hershey, a very bitter and very funny failing writer.
Answer one of the two questions below (or both if you'd like):

1. The name Anyder is mentioned in Thomas More's Utopia. What is it?

or

2. Crispin Hershey paraphrases a poem by Shelley--"Look on my works, Richard Cheeseman, and despair!" Which poem does that line refer to?