Quiz! Melancholy Literature

Curious Quiz, September, 2024

After a successful first ever quiz last month, I’m starting a new tradition: the monthly Curious Quiz which will take the place of the article on the first Monday of each month.

Once again, the answers to the questions below require knowledge across a range of literary periods and genres so prepare to be challenged. This time, all of the stories are vaguely melancholy, since we’re heading into misty autumn, but in addition keep an eye out for a simple fact that connects all of the answers, it might help you fill in some of the rest.

Scroll down for the answers and let me know in the comments how you did. The first person to tell me (in a direct message please) what the connection is wins a Curious Quiz award valued approx. three and a half buttons. Last month’s winner was

Shelly Dennison

of ‘Shelly’s Scribblings,’ so do go and subscribe to her, she clearly knows her stuff.

Questions

1. Which 1938 gothic novel begins ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again’?

2. The words ‘terrific,’ ‘some pig,’ and ‘radiant’ are woven by the protagonist of which bittersweet children’s novel?

3. Which 1928 novel was not published in the UK until 1960 when it sparked an obscenity trial against publisher Penguin books?

4. The Madwoman in the Attic, a feminist analysis of Victorian literature, derives its title from which novel?

5. Which 1925 novel centres around the life and disillusionment of 51-year-old Clarissa?

6. A ‘Liddell girl’ was the inspiration for which children’s book?

7. The verb ‘to pander’ comes from the name ‘Pandarus,’ a character who appears in which Shakespearean tragedy?

8. In which 2002 children’s novel would you be menaced by The Other Mother and The Other Father?

9. Which 1878 Russian novel begins ‘Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’?

10. Controversially subtitled ‘A Pure Woman,’ which 1891 novel followed the fate of a country girl sent to ask her wealthy distant relatives for help?

Answers

1. Rebecca

2. Charlotte’s Web

3. Lady Chatterley’s Lover

4. Jane Eyre

5. Mrs Dalloway

6. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

7. Troilus and Cressida

8. Coraline

9. Anna Karenina

10. Tess of the d'Urbervilles

How did you do? Did you get them all right? What about that connection between all the answers, have you guessed it yet? Let me know how you did below and remember to subscribe for more quizzes like this and share/recommend this Substack to help it grow.