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Academic Decathlon 2023-2024 > Literature short selections and poetry > Flashcards

Literature short selections and poetry Flashcards

1
Q

How did Neil Gaiman begin his writing career?

A

As a journalist; his first two books were biographies.

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2
Q

Who did Gaiman write his first two biographies about?

A

one covered the British band Duran Duran and the other was a biography of Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

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3
Q

Who is the artist which Gaiman frequently collaborated with?

A

Dave McKean

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4
Q

Which series by Gaiman was the first comic to recieve the World Fantasy award for best short story?

A

Sandman

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5
Q

What was the first selection for the One Book, One twitter book club?

A

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

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6
Q

Who made Coraline into a musical?

A

Stephin Merritt

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7
Q

What awards did the Graveyard Book (2008) win?

A

UK’s booktrust prize for teenage fiction, the Newbery Medal, The Locus Young Adult award, and the Hugo best Novel Prize.

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8
Q

Which of Gaiman’s novels was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards?

A

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

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9
Q

What are Gaiman’s two films?

A

A short film about john bolton (2002) & Statuesque (2009)

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10
Q

According to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), What is science the study of?

A

the nature and behavior of the universe

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11
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what is science based in?

A

observation, experiment, measurement, and the formulation of laws

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12
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what were men fitted to do?

A

to hunt beasts and find their way home

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13
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what are women’s brains fit for?

A

to spot landmarks and make paths

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14
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what was the first tool of all?

A

a baby sling

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15
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what invention follows the baby sling?

A

a flint pestle to smash

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16
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what sometimes happens to the men chasing beasts?

A

sometimes they never come back

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17
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what are the three things mushrooms can do to you?

A

some can kill you, some can show you gods, some are foods.

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18
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), you can only eat certain mushrooms after doing what?

A

cooking them once and boiling them twice

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19
Q

in The Mushroom hunters (2017), what does the speaker say we should observe?

A

childbirth

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20
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what will we learn from experience?

A

how to bring babies safely into the world (this one is a little wacky sorry)

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21
Q

in The Mushroom Hunters (2017) what do the modern day Mushroom hunters do?

A

some thrive, some starve

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22
Q

according to The Mushroom Hunters (2017), what does the early scientists do?

A

she draws beasts on cave walls to show her children

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23
Q

as defined by usad, what kind of poem is The Mushroom Hunters?

A

a lyrical storytelling poem

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24
Q

What event did Gaiman write The Mushroom hunters for?

A

the inaugural show of The Universe In Verse, which was Dedicated to astronomer Maria Mitchell and celebrated women’s contributions to science.

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25
Q

Who was The Mushroom Hunters addressed to?

A

Gaiman’s son, Ash.

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26
Q

Who was The Mushroom Hunters originally performed by?

A

Amanda Palmer

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27
Q

What does the speaker call the person they’re addressing in The Mushroom Hunters?

A

“my little one”

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28
Q

What myth does The Mushroom Hunters refute?

A

the hunter-gatherer myth, where men are the sole inventors of technology and women merely use this technology

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29
Q

Where did the poet Sarah Howe study english?

A

University of Cambridge

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30
Q

What award did Howe’s pamphlet, A Certain Chinese Encyclopedia (2009), win?

A

The Eric Gregory Award from the society of authors

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31
Q

What awards did Howe’s first full collection, Loop of Jade, win?

A

the T.S. Eliot Prize and The Sunday Times/Peters Fraser and Dunlop Young writer of the year award

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32
Q

What is Howe’s career today?

A

She is a lecturer in poetry at King’s College London.

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33
Q

In relativity, Howe compares photons to what?

A

greyhounds at the track

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33
Q

According to Relativity (2015), what do our eyes do in the dark?

A

they look for familiar shapes

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34
Q

The line “a flash seen from on and off a hurtling train” alludes to what scientific thought-experiment?

A

Einstein’s train example

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35
Q

In Relativity, where are black holes predicted to be?

A

where parallel lines meet

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36
Q

Why does the speaker in Relativity believe our eyes will adjust to the dark?

A

because humans can think so far and comprehend complex scientific theories

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37
Q

What does Relativity’s title pay homage to?

A

Albert Einstein’s 1915 Theory of Relativity

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38
Q

Who did Howe have in mind when writing Relativity?

A

Stephen Hawking

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39
Q

What type of poem is Relativity?

A

sonnet

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40
Q

What is ironic about Relativity?

A

it is about the theory of relativity and the speed of light, but begins in darkness

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41
Q

What is a key feature of Relativity and all of Howe’s work?

A

it begins in personal experiences and expands to broad cultural and historical contexts

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42
Q

In what sense is language a technology?

A

it’s the machinery of human connection (this is mentioned in the analysis of “Relativity”)

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43
Q

What did Octavia E. Butler suffer from in school?

A

undiagnosed dyslexia

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44
Q

What caused Butler to dedicate herself to a career as a professional writer?

A

she submitted one of her stories to a sci-fi magazine in high school

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45
Q

who became Butler’s writing mentor?

A

Harlan Ellison at the Screen Writers’ Guild Open Door Program

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46
Q

What was Butler’s first novel?

A

Patternmaster (1976)

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47
Q

Which of Butler’s novels is considered a major publication and is often taught at the high school and college level?

A

Kindred (1979)

48
Q

What grant was Butler awarded in 1995?

A

a Macarthur Genius Grant. she remains the only sf writer to receive this.

49
Q

According to the excerpt at the beginning of “Childfinder”, psionic abilities could do what for humanity?

A

put people on the road to utopia by allowing different races, religions, etc. to understand each other

50
Q

what are Barbara’s living conditions like away from the organization?

A

poor; she is exposed to rain and insects in her run down home. The utilities are poor, and the rest of the neighborhood houses are in the same condition.

51
Q

why is Barbara sticking around this run-down neighborhood?

A

becuase a pre-telepath, Valerie, lives next door

52
Q

according to Barbara, what is Valerie using her pre-telepath abilities for?

A

shop-lifting

53
Q

what shows Valerie’s independence?

A

A “linty” ponytail which she had obviously done herself

54
Q

what does Barbara lend Valerie?

A

a juvenile biography of Harriet Tubman

55
Q

what condition does Valerie return Barbara’s book in?

A

torn apart; she let her little brother, Larry play with it

56
Q

What does Barbara hope to prove to Valerie?

A

that she can do a lot more thinking then she’s used to

57
Q

What is the process Barbara uses to train Valerie in psionic abilities?

A

get her used to mental communication, and then teach her to think along new and unpleasant lines

58
Q

what did valerie like about the Tubman biography?

A

she liked the part where “Harriet helped those slaves get away”

59
Q

what is Valerie’s “breakthrough”?

A

she asks why people on the road to freedom with Tubman always wanted to turn around halfway; she asks a question she wants the answer to.

60
Q

what do white people in Barbara’s neighborhood do?

A

turn off utilities, evict tenants, and sell overpriced stuff

61
Q

Who is the white woman that walks into Barbara’s home?

A

Eve, a woman from the organization

62
Q

what is eve’s nervous habit?

A

she twirls her hair around her fingers

63
Q

how does the organization segregate against people of color?

A

they wouldn’t accept pre-telepaths who weren’t white, hence why Barbara left

64
Q

according to Eve, what is Barbara forming?

A

a segregated Black-only group that opposes the organization.

65
Q

what does Eve say Barbara is setting herself up for?

A

the same troubles that plague non-telepaths (i.e. segregation)

66
Q

why is the organization a group of exceptions?

A

they’re a bunch of telepaths who matured on their own. Their abilities didn’t die off from a lack of use.

67
Q

Why does the organization stay the same size after Barbara leaves?

A

Barbara is the childfinder; she is the only one who knows how to recognize pre-psi kids.

68
Q

How does Barbara prevent the organization from getting a new childfinder?

A

she cripples any potential ones of their psionic abilities

69
Q

what does eve threaten to do?

A

harm Barbara’s kids

70
Q

who does eve bring as backup?

A

the world’s first psionic brawlers, three of them

71
Q

who telepathically knocks the psionic brawlers unconscious?

A

some of Barbara’s kids, Jordan and Jessie Mae

72
Q

What does Jordan get told he looks like?

A

A Watusi Man, which is a former name for a people of Africa whose traditions include spectacular dances

73
Q

why does Barbara believe that the organization will capture her sooner or later?

A

they know her, she can’t hide from them

74
Q

what does Barbara do to protect her kids?

A

forget everything she knows about them before the organization captures her so they can’t get any information on them

75
Q

what do historians believe happened to the psis?

A

that they were wiped out because of a disease, destroyed by forces that were purely external

76
Q

what is the key to all other technologies?

A

language (this is discussed in the analysis of Childfinder)

77
Q

what text are the quotes in Childfinder from?

A

Psi: History of a Vanished People

78
Q

Where did John Crowley spend his childhood?

A

Greenwich Village with the women in his family; his father was stationed in Maine because of WWII.

79
Q

Where did Crowley go to college?

A

He majored in English at Indiana University

80
Q

Where did Crowley go after college?

A

New York City, where he began to work on screenplays, documentary films, and SF novels

81
Q

Which of Crowley’s novels won the World Fantasy award?

A

Little Big (1981)

82
Q

Where did Crowley work beginning in 1992?

A

At Yale university as an instructor of Creative Writing

83
Q

Who gave Georgie the wasp?

A

Her dead ex-husband, who she married for the money

84
Q

why wouldn’t georgie have gotten a wasp for herself?

A

she was unsentimental and “a little in awe of death”

85
Q

The line “O death, where is thy sting?” in Snow comes from where?

A

the new testament

86
Q

why was the wasp’s name “a bit of accidental poetry?”

A

it acted like an insect bug and literally was a surveillance type bug; it’s name fit all around

87
Q

what is the wasp’s distance from Georgie decided by?

A

her motions, other people around her, level of light, tone of her voice

88
Q

when is the wasp not recording?

A

when its dark or when it gets trapped

89
Q

why does charlie suppose the wasp “runs out” (dies)?

A

it is so small but controls so many functions

90
Q

why does charlie marry Georgie?

A

for her money, he needed it to support him in his writing career.

90
Q

where does charlie go to “access” georgie?

A

a facility called “The Park”

91
Q

why does Georgie marry charlie?

A

for his looks; he is very handsome and calls himself “the beauty unaware of his beauty”

92
Q

What does Georgie say to charlie hungover in new york?

A

“Charlie, I’m going to die of fun.”

93
Q

how did Georgie die?

A

she was killed by a snow leopard while snow-foiling in austria

94
Q

who told Charlie that Georgie died?

A

some random guy named Alfredo

95
Q

what does Charlie think about death?

A

that it’s grotesque and useless, and making a big deal of it makes it more grotesque and more useless

96
Q

what does Charlie compare the key to access with?

A

the key to an expensive car

97
Q

what does Charlie suspect the access concept of being?

A

another trick on rich people - the illusion that they can buy something that cannot be bought. Like the cryonics fad

98
Q

who do Charlie and Georgie meet in Ibiza?

A

a german couple who constantly performed for their wasp

99
Q

what does Charlie borrow to get to access?

A

a highway access permit

100
Q

where does access function?

A

underground

101
Q

what plays at access?

A

muzak

102
Q

what memory does Charlie first see on access?

A

Georgie and himself having a meaningless conversation in Ibiza. Georgie then sees hummingbirds

103
Q

what is charlie displeased with at access?

A

that it is random. there is no way to search for a specific moment

104
Q

what does the director at access look like?

A

a janitor or a night watchman

105
Q

why is it good that access is random (according to the director)?

A

it prevents the footage from being used for legal purposes

106
Q

what physics concept does the director attribute access’s randomness to?

A

brownian movement; random movement of molecules

107
Q

how does charlie explain/analogize the brownian movement?

A

its like the random dust particles in a ray of sunlight, or the random flurry of snowflakes in a snowglobe

108
Q

what does access begin to lose?

A

definition and color

109
Q

what does the director say might start to appear in access?

A

some “snow”

110
Q

what is the first repeated memory that charlie sees?

A

him and georgie at the algonquin (NY), when she says “Charlie, I’m going to die of fun”

111
Q

what does charlie call georgie’s mother?

A

a dragon

112
Q

when does charlie start to suspect that there’s something wrong with access?

A

when the memories he keeps accessing are all snowy; Georgie hated winter and spent little time around snow, so Charlie sees that the chances of getting a snowy memory everytime he presses access are slim.

113
Q

where did the director work previously?

A

at a warehouse full of film cans. film-makers would call and request scenes

114
Q

what kind of scenes does the director say were hardest to find?

A

scenes of people living everyday life

115
Q

how does the director describe black and white tapes of “old times”?

A

people had pinched faces, and the cities were all black. “snow. there isn’t any summer there.”

116
Q

what does Charlie realize at the end of Snow?

A

that the best thing that was going to happen to him in his life had already happened

117
Q

what are the two types of memory, according to Charlie?

A

the active recall kind, where you can forcibly remember your serial number, your high school physics teacher, etc. and the unconscious kind which springs itself on you “the sleepwalking kind”.

Academic Decathlon 2023-2024 (18 decks)

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