The LitNet Forum Game Quiz o' the Week

1,4,6,10. Very poor job there, Pen!

It’s that proud time of year again for apple-cheeked kids to show the 4-H projects they've worked on all summer long, for farm wives to display their meticulous yet lovingly wrought efforts in canning, baking, and flower arranging, and for their husbands to flex their skill on the midway in order to win a stuffed animal or a Kewpie doll which invariably costs much less than what they dropped on the games. The harvest has begun, and with it comes all manner of county fairs, homespun craft bazaars, and traveling carnivals, from the wholesome to the seedy. You'll find occasionally tasty– if not especially nutritious- fare such as corn dogs, cotton candy, fried dough, all of which the bold and the foolhardy may risk losing entirely on the amusement park rides. Don't worry about being hoodwinked or flimflammed or bamboozled by some flashy city slicker. This quiz is multiple choice for your enjoyment (and my aggravation!)

So – Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up for today’s dubious attraction, which we like to call

Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair

The Choices
a. James Joyce
b. John Barth
c. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
d. Simple Simon
e. E. B. White
f. State Fair
g. Thomas Hardy
h. E. L. Doctorow
i. Ray Bradbury
j. Bartholomew Fair
k. Franz Kafka
l. 1903 World’s Fair
m. Vanity Fair

The Questions
1. What is the title of Ben Jonson’s 1614 comedy featuring archetypal characters named Littlewit, Busy, and Justice Adam Overdo?

2. Known for writing expansive picaresque novels such as Giles Goat-Boy and The Sot-Weed Factor, who is the contemporary writer of a short story collection titled Lost in the Funhouse?

3. Name the historical cultural event which concludes the 1944 film, Meet Me in St. Louis.

4. Who is the poet, publisher, and San Francisco bookstore founder whose most famous work is A Coney Island of the Mind?

5. Rodgers and Hammerstein, the team that created popular musicals such as Carousel, provided the source material for three movies with the same title, two great ones in 1933 and in 1945, and one considerably less so in 1962. What was the title?

6. A down-at-the heels farmhand gets so stinkin’ drunk at a fair that he literally sells his wife and baby. This the opening of the novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge. Who wrote it?

7. Name the 20th century literary giant who wrote the short story, “Araby,” named after a traveling bazaar that symbolizes a young man agonizing over his first love.

8. Which author wrote “The Hunger Artist,” about a man who, like a sideshow freak, starves himself for the entertainment of audiences?

9. Who is the present-day author of novels set against a cultural and historical backdrop, such as Ragtime and World’s Fair?

10. Tattoos are commonplace, even ubiquitous these days, but in previous eras a “tattooed lady” was a carnival attraction. Then, as now, the body art was one-dimensional, nothing fantastic like that of “The Illustrated Man,” written by which American short story writer?

11. Who wrote Charlotte’s Web, featuring a spider with literary leanings and a “famous” pig destined to win a prize at the county fair – or perhaps suffer a far worse fate?

12. What is the title of the 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray?

And finally–
13. Who met a pie man going to the fair?

The Answers
1. j
2. b
3. l
4. c
5. f
6. g
7. a
8. k
9. h
10. i
11. e
12. m
13. d

Ooh, you're back with quizes Aunty. I got them all correct! :D It's a little easier having the answers in front of one, needing only to choose the right one.

Thanks, Auntie. I’ve really missed these quizzes so it’s great to see their return. I got numbers 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, and 13, but I have to admit that number 1 was a guess.

Thanks, Virgil (long time no see!) and DickZ.

Just a clarification about Question # 5:

I misinterpreted the source material about the State Fair movies. There was indeed a film of that name made in 1933, but it wasn't a musical and thus the composer and lyricist had nothing to do with it. They did, however, contribute the songs used in both the 1945 and 1962 films.

Brings up (not "begs") the question: which of Richard Rodgers's most prominent lyricists do you prefer: Hart or Hammerstein? Although the latter showed that he did have an "edge," notably in South Pacific, most of the projects with which Mr. Hammerstein was involved tended to be somewhat saccharine, e. g. The Sound of
Music. Yet Rodgers's earlier collaborator, Lorenz Hart, wrote edgy songs full of wit, despite or maybe because of his troubled life.

But asking which lyricist you prefer is no doubt moot. Reminds me of a story about NYC's mayor Mike Bloomberg.

For an interleague "subway series" a few years ago, reporters asked Bloomberg which NY team he was rooting for, the Yankees or the Mets. Apparently Bloomberg tried to think of a diplomatic answer that wouldn't alienate any New York fan. "I'm for the team that has Matsui on the roster." Both teams at the time had a player whose last name was Matsui -- the infielder Kaz on the Mets and DH aand occasional outfielder Hideki on the Yanks.

Auntie! Thanks for the quiz. I've missed seeing them. This one seemed much easier with the multiple choice - I got 9/13. I got #4-8 and #10-13. I was excited to see Ferlinghetti in there because when I lived in San Francisco, I used to go to his bookstore "City Lights" all the time!

Admittedly, I've never heard of Doctorow; I'll have to go check him out. And though I've seen Barth's books around, I've never actually picked one up. But your question on him made him sound really interesting.

Can't wait for next week's quiz!

Arguably one of the best-known works of American verse, “The Road Not Taken” has been “taken,” all right, by editors of countless high school anthologies. Although teachers and students alike find much to admire in the works of Robert Frost, this particular work has been subject to misguided interpretations (see below.)* The readers must have taken a wrong turn when their GPS systems went on the fritz.

Scenic paths, highways, and byways run for miles through numerous stories and songs. The summer may be over for tourists, but construction season lingers on. If you’re being directed to a detour, or fighting gridlock, or stuck in traffic jam, you might like to pass the time by taking our little quiz, which we like to call

Caution: Road Work Ahead

1. “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road./Healthy, free, the world before me” are the opening lines of “Song of the Open Road.” Who wrote them?
(a.) Walt Whitman (b.) William Wordsworth (c.)William Carlos Williams (d.) Walt Jocketty.

2. Whose most famous work is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?
(a.) Douglas Adams (b.) Adam Corolla (c.) Adam West (d.) Douglas Brinkley

3. We may already have had more than enough post-apocalyptic novels by 2006, but in that year who published The Road, winner of several prestigious literary awards?
(a.) Kevin McCarthy (b.) Russell Banks
(c.) Cormac McCarthy (d.) MacKinlay Kantor

4. Whose song advised hipsters to “Get your kicks on Route 66"?
(a.) Nelson Riddle (b.) Count Basie (c.) Bobby Troup
(d.) Bobby Short

5. ALL of the following are names of characters in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road EXCEPT:
(a.) Dean Moriarity (b.) Carlo Marx (c.) Gregory Corso (d.) Sal Paradise

6. According to conventional wisdom, the Road to Hell is paved with what?
(a.) gold (b.) the sins of the fathers (c.) good intentions (d.) municipal bonds.

7. Name the 2007 winner of the Kentucky Derby:
(a.) Street Smarts (b.) Street Sense (c.) Bellamy Road (d.) Quality Road

8. What’s the title of the Tony award winning musical which features G-rated puppets speaking racy lines and singing R-rated songs?
a.) Avenue A (b.) Street Scene (c.) Poppyseed Street (d.) Avenue Q.

9. Which of the following is the most famous poem by Alfred Noyes?
(a.) "Cherry Blossom Lane" (b.) "The Highwayman" (c.) "Road Warrior" (d.) "Walk, Don’t Run"

10. Which former U.S. President is credited with the creation of the Interstate Highway System?
(a.) FDR (b.) Eisenhower (c.) JFK (d.) LBJ (e.) Nixon

11. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby took the Road to. . .” ALL of the following EXCEPT:
(a.) Rio (b.) Hong Kong (c.) Utopia (d.) Ruin (e.) Zanzibar

12. Among the following, who is most associated with the song, “Hit the Road, Jack”?:

(a.) Jamie Foxx (b.) Mary Wells (c.) Ray Charles (d.) The Coasters (e) The Temptations

13. And finally, long before we were born Fred Astaire introduced this in a movie, but a few of us were here by the time Frank Sinatra had a smash hit with this song by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer. What was it?:
(a.) "Where the Streets Have No Name" (b.) "Easy Street" (c.) "On the Street Where You Live"
(d.) "One for My Baby and One More for the Road"





Answers
1. a 2. a 3. c 4. c 5. c 6. c 7. b 8. d 9. b 10. b 11. d 12. c 13. d

*Here's the link to the critical article about the "The Road Not Taken":
http://www.thescreamonline.com/essay...01/poetry.html

Auntie, I've seen that article before and think it's great. I need to share it with all my students. I did a bit better this week; I got 9/13 correct: #1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12. The last one was a complete guess...I got lucky there!

I was excited to see a Derby question here. I've never noticed how many of our top Thoroughbreds have road/street related names (Giant's Causeway, Cherokee Run, Forward Pass, Raven's Pass, and Conduit also spring to mind). But I suppose we owe much of that to the Street Cry craziness since Street Sense won the Derby. On a random note: Bellamy Road is one of the most beautiful Thoroughbreds I've ever seen.

2,4,6,10 and 11. How embarrassing!

Thanks to you both for taking the quiz. And Pen, I hadn't seen your screen name lately --it's nice to see you back.

Thanks for the quiz Aunt Shecky - even though I only got 5 right :eek:

I had no hope with the Kentucky Derby Winner though :p

Thanks, Auntie. I got 1, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.

Surprise! We finally have a quiz. Eleven of the thirteen questions are multiple choice; for the remaining two you're on your own. Let's get right to this week's fright-fest, which, surprisingly enough, we like to call

October Surprise


1. Which of the following poets rhapsodized about "October's bright blue weather?":
(a) Elinor Wylie (b) Sara Teasdale (c) Emily Dickinson (d) Helen Hunt Jackson

2. The phrase "a tankard of October" refers to what kind of libation?
(a) ale (b) beer (c) wine (d) hard cider

3. Of the following works by Edgar Allen Poe which one specifically takes place on Halloween?
(a) "Annabel Lee" (b) "The Raven" (c) "Ulalume" (d) The Tell-Tale Heart.

4. A scene about a witches' sabbath can be found in which work by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
(a) The House of the Seven Gables (b) Tanglewood Tales (c) "Young Goodman Brown" (d) Ethan Brand

5. The October Revolution occurred in which country?
(a) France (b) Russia (c) Italy (d) Cuba

6. Most of us are familiar with Washington Irving's legendary Halloween tale. Name the real geographic location of "Sleepy Hollow."
(a) Kinderhook NY (b) Secaucus NJ (c)Tarrytown NY (d) Paterson NJ

7. Which seventeenth century English poet wrote "Witchcraft by a Picture"?
(a) Herrick (b) Marvell (c) Crashaw (d) Donne

8. Robert Frost wrote all of the following EXCEPT:
(a) "After Apple-Picking" (b) "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (c) "The Witch of Coos" (d) "Solomon and the Witch"

9. Name the historically significant event occurring on October 24, 1929.

10. October is our tenth month, but for the ancient Romans it was the eighth month. Why?

11. Who wrote "The Goblin Market"?
(a) Dante Gabriel Rossetti (b) William Morris (c) Christina Rossetti (d) Elizabeth Barrett Browning

12. Which American novelist wrote Goodbye, Columbus?
(a) John Irving (b) Philip Roth (c) John Updike
(d) Bernard Malamud

and finally, it's MLB playoff time!--

13. Name the former major league baseball star most associated with the sobriquet, "Mr. October."
(a) Stan Musial (b) Henry Aaron (c) Willie Mays (d) Reggie Jackson





Answers
1. d 2. a 3. c 4. c 5. b 6. c 7. d 8. d (Yeats)
9. The Stock Market crashed. 10. The Roman calendar began in March. 11. c 12. b 13. d

Hi Auntie,

I really enjoyed taking the quiz, though I completely tanked on it. I got 6/13. I got #5, 6 (by pure luck), 8, 9, 10, 11. I really struggled with the Hawthorne question because I'd read (b) and (c) so long ago I barely remembered them, and the answer to the Poe question was the only one I hadn't read.

Thanks for introducing the Donne poem to me. I hadn't heard of that one and it sounds fascinating so I must go check it out.

A final question: What does Goodbye, Columbus have to do with October? (Obviously, I haven't read it.)

Thanks for the quiz, Auntie. I only got five right – numbers 5, 6, 10, 12 and the bonus question. I guess I'll have to study October a lot more.