WorldLiterature

Question 1

The coming of Jesus (either in the Incarnation of biblical times or in the 2nd coming at the end of the world); also a time observed in December to prepare for Christmas

Answer 1

Advent

Question 2

Plays that stress the illogical or irrational aspects of experience, usually to show the pointlessness of modern life.

Answer 2

theater of the absurd

Question 3

A group of leaders in the literature and thought of France, supported by the govmt of France and sets standards for use of the French language.

Answer 3

French Academy

Question 4

School of philosphy established by Plato in Athens, one of Greece’s first colleges, Aristotle went there, the Academy continued in operation for several hundred years

Answer 4

Plato’s Academy

Question 5

“The Boy Who Cried Wolf”, “the Fox and the Grapes”, “The Tortoise and the Hare”

Answer 5

Aesop’s fables

Question 6

Slave who lived from 620 to 560 BC, a fabulist

Answer 6

Aesop

Question 7

“_____ and the Forty Thieves” a story from the “Arabian Nights”, he gains access to the cave with treasure of the thieves by saying “Open, sesame”

Answer 7

Ali Baba

Question 8

The Amish broke away from this group in the 17th century

Answer 8

Mennonites

Question 9

Cultural group formed by early German-speaking immigrants, known for lots of foods such as “shoo-fly pie”, “funnel cakes”, putting the hole in the doughnut, and putting hex signs above their barns

Answer 9

Pennsylvania Dutch

Question 10

group of churches historically based in the Church of England, combines Catholic and Protestant elements (e.g. they have bishops, but don’t accept the authority of the pope)

Answer 10

Anglican Communion

Question 11

Most influential theologian of Middle Ages, saint of the Roman Catholic Church, reconciled faith and reason, listed the 7 deadly sins

Answer 11

Thomas Aquinas

Question 12

“Summa Theologica”, in one section he discusses 5 ways to attempt to prove that there is a God

Answer 12

Thomas Aquinas

Question 13

To prevent her execution, she tells a new story every night for 1001 days to her husband the sultan

Answer 13

Scheherazade

Question 14

Also called “The Thousand and One Nights”, features Alladin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad the sailor

Answer 14

Arabian Nights

Question 15

“The Seven Voyages of ____”

Answer 15

Sinbad the Sailor

Question 16

Ancient greek dramatist 445-385 BC, author of comedies “The Clouds”, “The Frogs”, and “Lysistrata”, called “The Father of Comedy”

Answer 16

Aristophanes

Question 17

Phileas Fogg

Answer 17

Around the World in Eighty Days (1873)

Question 18

Jules Verne

Answer 18

Around the World in Eighty Days (1873)

Question 19

Christian teacher 354-430 AD, first major medieval philospher, blended Plato and Christian thought, dramatic conversion to Christianity, became a bishop and a saint, wrote “The City of God” and his autobiography “Confessions”

Answer 19

Saint Augustine (also Augustine of Hippo)

Question 20

the incarnation of a Hindu God (the Buddha is a ___ of the god Vishnu)

Answer 20

avatar

Question 21

religion which advocates universal peace and spiritual unit of humankind, founded in Persia in 1863, main hub in Haifa

Answer 21

Bahaism (followers of Baha’i faith)

Question 22

French author who wrote “The Human Comedy”, a collection of 91 stories, novels, and essays about French society during the French Restoration

Answer 22

Honore de Balzac

Question 23

Jewish ceremony marking the beginning of religious responsibility for Jewish boys of 13 (and the less popular version for girls is called ___)

Answer 23

bar mitzvah (male) / bat mitzvah (female)

Question 24

Irish-born French absurdist author, wrote “Waiting for Godot” 1953 play (where Godot never shows up)

Answer 24

Samuel Beckett

Question 25

Russian playwright of "The Cherry Orchard" play (1904), "The Three Sisters" (1901) play, and "Dyadya Vanya (Uncle Vanya)" play, and short stories

Answer 25

Anton Chekhov

Question 26

founded Christian Science, a religion that believes that sickness and sin can be overcome by prayer (many refuse medical treatment), also founded the newspaper "Christian Science Monitor"

Answer 26

Mary Baker Eddy

Question 27

A Roman orator, writer, and statesman known for his speeches to the Roman Senate, executed by Mark Antony for badmouthing him

Answer 27

Cicero

Question 28

alphabet used for writing the Russian language and several related languages, most letters differ from the Latin alphabet

Answer 28

Cyrillic alphabet

Question 29

reasoning from the general to the specific (or more accurately the movement from a premis to an absolutely certain conclusion), used by mathematical induction

Answer 29

deductive reasoning

Question 30

reasoning from specific instances to predict general principles (strong argument, but does not have to be absolutely certain)

Answer 30

inductive reasoning

Question 31

___ is an established church in England, ___ in Scandinavian countries, ___ in Scotland

Answer 31

Church of England, Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church

Question 32

Worst of the 3 Greek dramatists, wrote "Medea" play (431 BC)

Answer 32

Euripides

Question 33

movement that stresses that people are entirely free and therefore responsible for what they make of themselves, Simon Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, Jean-Paul Sartre, Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus

Answer 33

existentialism

Question 34

A scheming Spanish barber, "The Marriage of ___" opera by Mozart and "The Barber of Seville" by Gioacchino Rossini are about him

Answer 34

Figaro

Question 35

French author of "Madame Bovary" (1856), went on trial for offensiveness of immoral female lead (acquitted), led naturalism/realism in French literature

Answer 35

Gustave Flaubert

Question 36

Italian saint, created the nativity scene, known for his love of nature and animals, helping those in poverty, two major US cities named after him

Answer 36

St. Francis of Assisi (Santa Fe and San Francisco), followers are called Franciscans

Question 37

men's fraternal organization (secret society) with some religious aspects, claim descent from the builders of the Temple in Jerusealem, organize in lodges, many famous people (Mozart, Ben Franklin, George Washington)

Answer 37

Freemasons

Question 38

Scottish philosopher known for his skepticism and empiricism, belief that sense and experience are the sole foundation of knowledge, wrote "A Treatise of Human Nature" (1739), his writings awoke Immanuel Kant from his dogmatic slumber

Answer 38

David Hume

Question 39

19th century Danish philosopher, the father of existentialism

Answer 39

Soren Kierkegaard

Question 40

list basic tenets of kosher foods

Answer 40

animals have to have hooves and chew their cud (excludes pork), no mixing of dairy products and meat, no shellfish

Question 41

Wrote "On Liberty" essay (1859) in defense of the liberal idea of political freedom, utilitarian (action is right if it promotes more happiness)

Answer 41

John Stuart Mill

Question 42

unleavened bread resembling a large cracker, used by Jews I place of yeast bread during Passover (God told Jews to eat unleavened bread, rather than delay their departure from Egypt by waiting for bread to rise)

Answer 42

matzo

Question 43

Brothers Charles and John Wesley founded this Protestant denomination

Answer 43

Methodist

Question 44

17th century French playwright, nom de plume of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, France's greatest comic dramatist

Answer 44

Moliere

Question 45

French equivalent to the Tony Awards are named after this French playwright, supported by Louis XIV (he was godfather to his son)

Answer 45

Moliere

Question 46

best known for his comedies of satire "Tartuffe", "The Misanthrope", "The School of Husbands", "The School for Wives", "The Miser", "The Bourgeois Gentlemen", died while playing title role in his play "The Imaginary Invalid"

Answer 46

Moliere

Question 47

19th century German philosopher, asserted "God is dead" and opposed Christianity, developed concept of "Superman", a superior human being not bounded by right and wrong,

Answer 47

Friedrich Nietzsche

Question 48

wrote "Thus Spake Zarathustra" (where he introduced the idea of Superman) (also a piece by ____ featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey)

Answer 48

Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Strauss

Question 49

17th century French mathematician, scientist, and philsopher, has a theorem, law, unit of pressure, programming language, and triangle named after him

Answer 49

Blaise Pascal

Question 50

20th century Russian author and poet, wrote "Doctor Zhivago" which Soviet censors refused to publish, but was published in English and Italian, won 1958 Nobel Prize in literature but was forced to reject it

Answer 50

Boris Pasternak

Question 51

this used by alchemists was thought to be capable of chanting other metals into gold or improve your health

Answer 51

philospher's stone

Question 52

French author of series of 7 novels called "Remembrance of Things Past" (or "In Search of Lost Time") (1913-1927)

Answer 52

Marcel Proust

Question 53

16th century French writer, wrote "Gargantua and Pantagruel" (1532) about two giants, known for grotesque and bawdy humor

Answer 53

Francois Rebelais

Question 54

18th century French author, notorious for his works dealing with sexual perversity, was jailed in the Bastille for cruel acts and sexual behavior, fought in the 7 years war, played by Gregory Rush in "Quills", died in an asylum

Answer 54

Marquis de Sade

Question 55

20th century French writer and aviator, wrote "The Little Prince" (1943) a metaphorical fairy tale about a desert-stranded pilot and a wandering child from another planet

Answer 55

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Question 56

the language of ancient India (1500 - 600 BC), one of the oldest languages, primary language of Hinduism and Buddhism, not spoken commonly anymore (although is listed as an official language of India), (e.g. Buddha = englightened one in this language)

Answer 56

Sanskrit

Question 57

20th century French philosopher, father of existentialism, wrote "Being and Nothingness" (1943) and the "No Exit" play (1944), won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964 but refused

Answer 57

Jean-Paul Sartre

Question 58

"Yentl" with Barbra Streisand was based a story by this Polish-born 20th century American novelist, critic, and journalist, won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1978

Answer 58

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Question 59

Play (and a movie with Barbara Streisand) about a Jewish girl in Poland who dresses like a man so she can study the Talmud under Jewish law after her father dies, features song "Papa, Can You Hear Me?"

Answer 59

Yentl

Question 60

20th Russian author, imprisoned 8 years in a gulag labor camp for writing critical of Stalin (wrote "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" (1962) about an inmate based on his experiences), wrote "The Gulag Archipelago" (1973) which led to his deporation

Answer 60

Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn

Question 61

In Juadism, a house of worship

Answer 61

synagogue

Question 62

Hindu God known as the Preserver, has appeared as Krishna and as the Buddha

Answer 62

Vishnu

Question 63

the general moral, iltellectual, and cultural climate of an era (e.g. the ___ of England during the Victorian period was a belief in Industrial progress)

Answer 63

zeitgeist