Literature

Question 1

Literature

Name the three locations in which the earliest writing systems arose.

Answer 1

Sumer (cuneiform)

Egypt (hieroglyphics)

China (characters)

(Notable Mentions: Tamil in India; Akkadian in Mesopotamia)

Question 2

Literature

What is the earliest literary composition we have?

Answer 2

The Epic of Gilgamesh

(a Sumerian poem – circa 2000 BCE)

Question 3

Literature

When were Egyptian Books of the Dead first composed?

Answer 3

Circa 1800 BCE

Question 4

Literature

The various portions of the Pentateuch (Torah) were composed in what time period?

Answer 4

950 - 500 BCE

Question 5

Literature

Which two Greek oral traditions were scribed into literary compositions and represent the beginning of classical antiquity?

(In what century?)

Answer 5

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

(~800 BCE)

Question 6

Literature

Name some of the great works of Chinese classical literature (1000 - 200 BCE).

Answer 6

Classic of Poetry (anonymous)

Sun Tzu’s Art of War

Confucius’ Analects

Question 7

Literature

Which Greek tragedian of classical antiquity introduced the ideas of tragedy, dialogue, and interacting characters to Western literature, thus inventing drama?

Answer 7

Aeschylus

Question 8

Literature

Which Greek tragedian of classical antiquity introduced the idea of irony to Western literature, most notably through his play Oedipus Rex?

Answer 8

Sophocles

Question 9

Literature

Which Greek tragedian of classical antiquity introduced the idea of comedy to Western literature?

Answer 9

Aristophanes

Question 10

Literature

Name the three most famous founders of Western philosophy.

(HINT: they are Greeks from classical antiquity and the first mentored the second, who mentored the third.)

Answer 10

Socrates –> Plato –> Aristotle

Question 11

Literature

True/False.

The Roman literature of classical antiquity (i.e. that by Virgil, Tacitus, Ovid, and Thucydides) was basically just an extension of the same techniques and myths used by the Greeks.

Answer 11

True.

Question 12

Literature

What was a major contribution of the Romans to the literary mechanisms introduced by the Greeks (e.g. drama, irony, comedy, etc.)?

Answer 12

Satire

(by Horace)

Question 13

Literature

Name some of the major literary works of Medieval Europe.

Answer 13

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Merlin and King Arthur,

Beowulf (old Norse epic),

Dante’s Divine Comedy,

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

Question 14

Literature

One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights — where we get Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba) was written in what era?

Answer 14

The Medieval age of the Islamic world

Question 15

Literature

What was the major technological contribution of the Renaissance to world literature around 1500 CE?

Answer 15

Gutenberg’s printing press

Question 16

Literature

Name a few of the major literary works arising in the Renaissance and early modern period.

Answer 16

Shakespeare’s works

Cervantes’ Don Quixote

Milton’s Paradise Lost

Question 17

Who are the main characters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

Answer 17

Macbeth (a Scottish general)

Lady Macbeth

King Duncan

Banquo (Macbeth’s friend)

Malcom (Duncan’s son)

Question 18

What are the main story and themes of Macbeth?

Answer 18

I. Macbeth (a Scottish general) and Lady Macbeth are jealous and obsessive for power;

II. They kill King Duncan so Macbeth can be King

III. They then continue having to kill to cover up their secrets and their descent into madness

IV. Eventually, Duncan’s son Malcom returns and overthrows Macbeth

Question 19

Who are the main characters in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men?

Answer 19

George

Lennie

Question 20

What are the main story and themes of Of Mice and Men?

Answer 20

I. George and Lennie flee Lennie’s accidental past crimes and begin work as ranchers

II. The story shows the way the elderly, African-Americans, women, and the disabled are cast aside by society

III. Lennie accidentally kills a woman, and George ends up killing him before the mob arrives to lynch Lennie

Question 21

Literature

What are the main themes of James Baldwin’s essay entitled The Fire Next Time?

Answer 21

1. The real defeat is when the black man comes to believe in the inferiority his oppressors claim he has
2. A discussion of the interplay between race and religion in America
3. The fact that oppression of black folk is a reflection of white America’s insecurity with itself

Question 22

Literature

What is the main plot of Othello?

Answer 22

Othello (a Venetian Moor and military officer) has wed Desdemona (daughter of a Venetian duke), and Iago (a conniving vassal) is trying to undermine and destroy him by making him jealous of his right-hand man Cassio.

It is basically the story of Iago pitting Othello against his wife and his closest allies through jealousy.