Major Literary Figures

Question 1

Aeschylus

Answer 1

(525-456 B.C.E.) Ancient Greek dramatist who specialized in tragedies, among them ‘Prometheus Bound’.

Question 2

Aesop

Answer 2

(c. 620-560 B.C.E.) Ancient Greek fabulist whose allegorical fables have inspired many writers.

Question 3

Dante Aligheri

Answer 3

(1265-1321) Early Renaissance Italian writer who is called the father of modern literature. His ‘Divine Comedy’ is one of literature’s great triumphs.

Question 4

Sherwood Anderson

Answer 4

(1876-1941) American short-story writer whose most famous collection is ‘Winesburg, Ohio’.

Question 5

Jane Austen

Answer 5

(1775-1817) Nineteenth-century English author whose novels include ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, and ‘Emma’.

Question 6

Honoré de Balzac

Answer 6

(1799-1850) Early 19th-century French writer best known for his series ‘La Comédie Himaine’.

Question 7

Samuel Beckett

Answer 7

(1906-1989) Irish-born French novelist and playwright whose Existentialist works include ‘Malloy’ and ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Question 8

Saul Bellow

Answer 8

(1915-2005) American novelist awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976. His works include the novels ‘Herzog’ and ‘Humboldt’s Gift’.

Question 9

William Blake

Answer 9

(1757-1827) British artist, poet, and engraver who wrote ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’.

Question 10

Charlotte Brontë

Answer 10

(1816-1855) English novelist, sister to Emily, who wrote under the pen name Currer Bell. Best known for the novels ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘Shirley’.

Question 11

Emily Brontë

Answer 11

(1818-1848) One of three literary sisters, this English novelist wrote under the pen name Ellis Bell. Her novel ‘Withering Heights’ is considered one of the great romantic novels.

Question 12

John Bunyan

Answer 12

(1628-1688) English preacher and writer of allegorical stories, most famously ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’.

Question 13

Lord George Byron

Answer 13

(1788-1824) Prominent Romantic poet known for his adventurous life and writings. Important works include ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’.

Question 14

Albert Camus

Answer 14

(1913-1960) French writer and Existentialist best known for his novels ‘The Stranger and the Plague’.

Question 15

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

Answer 15

(1832-1898) Prominent British writer, mathematician, and artist, Carroll wrote the classic children’s takes ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass’.

Question 16

Miguel de Cervantes

Answer 16

(1547-1616) Spanish writer whose book ‘Don Quixote’ is considered the first modern novel.

Question 17

Geoffrey Chaucer

Answer 17

(c. 1340-1400) Early English poet who wrote the influential ‘The Canterbury Tales’.

Question 18

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Answer 18

(1860-1904) Late 19th- and early 20th- century Russian playwright and short-story writer who wrote ‘The Seagull’ and ‘The Cherry Orchard’.

Question 19

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Answer 19

(1772-1834) One of the first English Romantics, widely remembered for “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Together with William Wordsworth, he published ‘Lyrical Ballads’ in 1798.

Question 20

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette

Answer 20

(1873-1954) Late 19th-century French female author who published the Claudine novels as well as ‘The Innocent Wife’.

Question 21

Joseph Conrad

Answer 21

(1857-1924) Polish-born British writer whose most famous books are the novella ‘Heart of Darkness’ and the novel ‘Under Western Eyes’.

Question 22

Stephen Crane

Answer 22

(1871-1900) American author of the Civil War novel ‘Red Badge of Courage’.

Question 23

Charles Dickens

Answer 23

(1812-1870) English writer immensely popular with his Victorian audience. A contemporary of Thomas Hardy. Some important works are ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, ‘Great Expectations’, and ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Question 24

Emily Dickinson

Answer 24

(1830-1886) One of American’s great 19th-century poets whose emotional poems were never published in her lifetime.

Question 25

John Donne

Answer 25

(1572-1631) English writer, essayist, and religious scholar considered the greatest of the metaphysical poets due to his highly original poems, including "The Flea" and "Death Be Not Proud."

Question 26

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Answer 26

(1821-1881) Prominent Russian novelist whose major works include 'Crime and Punishment' and 'The Idiot'.

Question 27

Theodore Dreiser

Answer 27

(1871-1945) American writer of the naturalist school whose novels include 'Sister Carrie' and 'An American Tragedy'.

Question 28

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

Answer 28

(1819-1880) Victorian English female novelist who wrote the realist novels 'Middlemarch' and 'Adam Bede'.

Question 29

T. S. Eliot

Answer 29

(1888-1965) American-born British Modernist poet who wrote the poems "The Waste Land" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

Question 30

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Answer 30

(1803-1882) Important American Transcendentalist writer and philosopher. The mentor of Thoreau, he wrote the essay "Nature."

Question 31

Euripedes

Answer 31

(c. 480-406 B.C.E.) Along with Sophocles and Aeschylus, a preeminent Ancient Greek dramatist.

Question 32

William Faulkner

Answer 32

(1897-1962) Acclaimed American Southern novelist had a major influence on contemporary literature. Some major works include 'The Sound and the Fury', 'Absolom! Absolom!', and 'As I Lay Dying'.

Question 33

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Answer 33

(1896-1940) One of the 20th century's literary stars, his writing chronicled the Jazz Age. His novel 'The Great Gatsby' is considered and American masterpiece.

Question 34

Gustave Flaubert

Answer 34

(1821-1880) French writer who coined the phrase 'le mot juste' (the perfect word0 and had a notoriously meticulous style. His masterpiece is 'Madame Bovary'.

Question 35

Robert Frost

Answer 35

(1874-1963) Popular American poet of the 20th century who penned such notable poems as 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' and 'Mending Wall'.

Question 36

Allen Ginsberg

Answer 36

(1926-1997) American Beat poet and active political figure who became the face of a generation's underground. Perhaps his most famous work is the collection 'Howl'.

Question 37

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Answer 37

(1749-1832) Prominent German writer, critic, and scientist who is most famous for his classic 'Faust'.

Question 38

Dashiell Hammett

Answer 38

(1894-1961) Popular American writer of noir, or detective, fiction. Man of his novels, including 'Maltese Falcon' and 'The Thin Man', became successful movies.

Question 39

Thomas Hardy

Answer 39

(1840-1928) One of the great English writers of the 19th century, his popular novels include 'Far From the Madding Crowd' and 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.

Question 40

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Answer 40

(1804-1864) Important 19th-century American writer who wrote celebrated novels and short stories, including 'The Scarlet Letter' and "The Minister's Black Veil."

Question 41

Ernest Hemingway

Answer 41

(1899-1961) Holds a place as one of America's most influential writers due to a terse style he honed as a journalist. Best known among his works are the novels 'The Sun Also Rises' and 'A Farewell to Arms'.

Question 42

Hermann Hesse

Answer 42

(1877-1962) Swiss-born German writer who wrote often about the duality of life. His novels include 'Siddhartha' and 'Steppenwolf'.

Question 43

Homer

Answer 43

(c. 850 B.C.E.) Ancient Greek writer sometimes called the father of literature. His epics 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' are two of history's most important achievements.

Question 44

Langston Hughes

Answer 44

(1902-1967) Twentieth-century African American poet, novelist, and playwright who helped shape the Harlem Renaissance. Famous poems include "Weary Blues," "Mother to Son," "Harlem," and "Theme for English B."

Question 45

Victor Hugo

Answer 45

(1802-1885) Prominent Victorian French novelist who wrote 'Les Misérables'.

Question 46

Henry James

Answer 46

(1843-1916) Expatriate American writer and critic at the turn of the 19th century whose novels include 'The Turn of the Screw' and 'Daisy Miller'.

Question 47

Samuel Johnson

Answer 47

(1709-1784) The leading thinker of his era, this English writer wrote the first modern dictionary in 1755.

Question 48

James Joyce

Answer 48

(1882-1941) Irish author is one of the towering figures of modern literature due to his groundbreaking narratives, shown most spectacularly in the novels 'Ulysses' and 'Finnegans Wake'.

Question 49

Franz Kafka

Answer 49

(1883-1924) German existentialist novelist who penned the classic 'The Metamorphosis'.

Question 50

John Keats

Answer 50

(1795-1821) English Romantic poet who wrote "Ode to a Nightingale" and "Ode on a Grecian Urn," among many others.

Question 51

Jack Kerouac

Answer 51

(1922-1969) American Beat poet and novelist and voice of the counterculture who wrote 'On the Road'.

Question 52

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Answer 52

(1807-1882) Popular 19th-century American Romantic poet who wrote "Songs of Hiawatha."

Question 53

Christopher Marlowe

Answer 53

(1564-1593) English playwright was Shakespeare's contemporary and is often thought to have influenced him greatly. He wrote 'Tamburlaine the Great' as well as 'Dr. Faustus'.

Question 54

Herman Melville

Answer 54

(1819-1891) One of the greatest American novelists, his works include the masterpiece 'Moby Dick' and the short story "Bartleby the Scrivener."

Question 55

Arthur Miller

Answer 55

(1915-2005) Acclaimed 20th-century American playwright who wrote many Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, including 'Death of a Salesman' and 'The Crucible'.

Question 56

Henry Miller

Answer 56

(1891-1980) Twentieth-century American writer who wrote several controversial works, including 'Tropic of Cancer'.

Question 57

John Milton

Answer 57

(1608-1674) Considered one of the great English-language poets. An outspoken essayist during the Reformation, his major works include 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regained'.

Question 58

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière

Answer 58

(1622-1673) French playwright and actor who helped define modern theater with such acclaimed plays as 'Tartuffe' and 'The Misanthrope'.

Question 59

Toni Morrison

Answer 59

(1931-present) Contemporary African American novelist whose fiction is widely acclaimed, she won the Nobel Prize in 1993. Her major works include 'Beloved' and 'Song of Solomon'.

Question 60

Vladimir Nabokov

Answer 60

(1899-1977) Russian American writer and essayist who is probably the best known for his controversial novel 'Lolita' and its effete protagonist Humbert Humbert.

Question 61

Eugene O'Neill

Answer 61

(1888-1953) Twentieth-century playwright widely thought to be America's greatest dramatist. His major works include 'Desire Under the Elms', 'The Hairy Ape', and 'The Iceman Cometh'.

Question 62

George Orwell (Eric Blair)

Answer 62

(1903-1950) English author who penned the satirical political novels '1984' and 'Animal Farm'. Also known for his critical works and essays.

Question 63

Ovid

Answer 63

(43 B. C. E.-17 C.E.) Roman poet whose poems, including the crucial 'Metamorphoses', were a major source of inspiration for Renaissance and Baroque writers.

Question 64

Petrarch

Answer 64

(1304-1374) Renaissance Italian poet whose love poems and writings were widely translated and had great influence on 16th- and 17th- century British writers.

Question 65

Sylvia Plath

Answer 65

(1932-1963) American poet and novelist of the confessional school whose tempestuous life was the subject of many of her poems. The author of "Daddy" and the novel 'The Bell Jar' committed suicide in 1963.

Question 66

Plutarch

Answer 66

(c. 46-120) Greek essayist and biographer whose monumental tome, 'The Parallel Lives', influenced many scholars and writers, including Shakespeare.

Question 67

Edgar Allan Poe

Answer 67

(1809-1849) One of the 19th-century America's greatest writers and forefather of the modern horror genre. His works include the poem "The Raven" and the stories "The Tell-tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado."

Question 68

Ezra Pound

Answer 68

(1885-1972) American-born poet and editor (of poet T.S. Eliot and others) who typified the Modernist movement.

Question 69

Marcel Proust

Answer 69

(1871-1922) French novelist who wrote complex novels and stories, among which is the series of books that make up 'Remembrance of Things Past'.

Question 70

Salman Rushdie

Answer 70

(1947-present) British novelist most notable for the death sentence imposed on him by the Ayatollah Khomeini, who thought his novel 'The Satanic Verses' to be blasphemous.

Question 71

Sappho

Answer 71

(c. 620 B.C.E.) Greek female poet of whose work little remains today except fragments of love poems.

Question 72

Sir Walter Scott

Answer 72

(1771-1832) Scottish novelist whose historical novels were extremely popular. His most famous work is 'Ivanhoe'.

Question 73

William Shakespeare

Answer 73

(1564-1616) Considered the master of playwrights in the English language, Shakespeare has influenced much of modern literature from poetry to tragedy. Just a few of his major works include 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Othello', 'Hamlet', 'Macbeth', and 'King Lear'.

Question 74

George Bernard Shaw

Answer 74

(1856-1950) Irish playwright and Nobel Prize winner wrote many notable plays, including 'Pygmalion' and 'Saint Joan'.

Question 75

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Answer 75

(1792-1822) English poet during the Romantic movement who was also the husband of writer Mary Shelley ('Frankenstein'). A vocal social critic, he published the great lyrical drama 'Prometheus Unbound'.

Question 76

Sophocles

Answer 76

(c. 496-406 B.C.E.) Greek dramatist who, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, wrote some of the greatest Greek tragedies. His classic 'Oedipus Rex' is among the greatest plays ever written.

Question 77

Edmund Spenser

Answer 77

(1552-1599) A master of the epic poem and a friend of prominent British statesmen, Spenser is best known for his elegant 'The Faerie Queen'.

Question 78

Gertrude Stein

Answer 78

(1874-1946) An American writer who lived most of her life in Paris in the 1920s, coining the term "lost generation" in reference to her fellow expatriate writers (including Hemingway and Fitzgerald).

Question 79

John Steinbeck

Answer 79

(1902-1968) Twentieth-century American novelist whose stories often centered around the plight of the worker. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962, and his novels include 'The Grapes of Wrath' and 'East of Eden'.

Question 80

Robert Louis Stevenson

Answer 80

(1850-1894) English writer of the 19th century who wrote such well-known novels as 'Treasure Island' and 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'.

Question 81

Jonathan Swift

Answer 81

(1667-1745) Irish-born English writer who is widely acknowledged as one of the world's great satirists. He published the classic 'Gulliver's Travels' and the widely acclaimed satire "A Modest Proposal."

Question 82

Henry David Thoreau

Answer 82

(1817-1862) Nineteenth-century American thinker and essayist who, along with his mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson, championed the Transcendentalist movement. His book 'Walden' is a classic text in Western thought.

Question 83

Count Leo Tolstoy

Answer 83

(1828-1910) Prominent Russian novelist and philosopher who wrote some of the world's most famous novels, including 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina'.

Question 84

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Answer 84

(1835-1910) One of America's greatest 19th-century writers and humorists whose novels, including 'Huckleberry Finn' and 'Tom Sawyer', are considered classics of American literature.

Question 85

John Updike

Answer 85

(1932-2009) Contemporary American novelist who wrote many popular novels, including 'Rabbit, Run' and 'Bech at Bay'.

Question 86

Virgil (Vergil)

Answer 86

(70-19 B.C.E.) Roman poet who wrote the epic 'Aeneid'.

Question 87

Voltaire

Answer 87

(1694-1778) Important 18th-century French philosopher and author whose achievements helped shape the Age of Enlightenment. Principal among his work is the masterpiece 'Candide'.

Question 88

Alice Walker

Answer 88

(1944-present) African American novelist who wrote 'The Color Purple'.

Question 89

Walt Whitman

Answer 89

(1819-1892) One of the greatest American poets, whose seminal collection, 'Leaves of Grass', is still considered among the greatest American poetical works.

Question 90

Oscar Wilde

Answer 90

(1854-1900) Controversial Irish writer whose works included 'The Importance of Being Earnest' and 'Salomé'.

Question 91

Tennessee Williams

Answer 91

(1914-1983) Major American playwright from the South who wrote, among others, 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Glass Menagerie'.

Question 92

Virginia Woolf

Answer 92

(1882-1941) British novelist and a major influence in modern fiction, her unconventional stream-of-consciousness style has influenced many writers. Among her most well-known works are 'To the Lighthouse' and 'Mrs. Dalloway'.

Question 93

William Wordsworth

Answer 93

(1770-1850) Poet of the English Romantic movement who, along with Coleridge, published the seminal 'Lyrical Ballads'.

Question 94

William Butler Yeats

Answer 94

(1865-1939) Irish playwright and poet who penned 'The Winding Stair'.

Question 95

Emile Zola

Answer 95

(1840-1902) French writer and essayist from the naturalist school whose most famous work is "J'Accuse," an article decrying the French government's role in the Dreyfus Affair.