July Quiz - Piggies!
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There’s nothing quite like a good quiz, but they’ve become intensely problematic in this age of instantaneous Internet content. Google and Wikipedia are pirate-coves for the lazy and the cheatful, and so the monthly Open Letters quiz will rely entirely on the honor system: readers are expected to rely on their memories alone. And no quiz would be complete without incentive! The first reader to respond with the highest number of correct answers will receive a book in the mail, courtesy of the editors at Open Letters. Email your answers by the 25th of the month to quiz@openlettersmonthly.com. |
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The Chinese celebrate their Year of the Pig this year, and in honor of that august occasion, the Open Letters Quiz this time around will have a decidedly porcine tint to it:
1. To start things off, an easy one: name three works of literature with some variation of ‘pig’ in their title.
2. It turns out pigs have played a prominent role in many works of literature throughout the ages. Name three.
3. Pigs are certainly not neglected in the works of William Shakespeare. Supply three quotes at your leisure.
4. There are more pigs than people in the great American state of Iowa. Name three works of literature set in the Hawkeye State.
5. Somewhat surprisingly, a notably high number of post-Renaissance writers have been, in main or in part, pig farmers. Name three.
6. Western nature being what it is, several fictional characters in its literature have been named or nicknamed some varation of ‘pig.’ Name three.
7. Three works of literature in which a dead pig serves as the central plot-device? Oink them out, if you’re able.
8. Needless to say, pigs run rampant throughout the Bible. Supply three meaty mentions, and keep in mind: only the shamefully lazy among you will even THINK of turning to Leviticus.
9. Writers being what they are (and porcine nature - in reality neat and considerate - being misunderstood the way it is), several in modern times have been publically referred to as ‘pigs.’ Repeat the slander of three.
10. To end things on as dignified a note as possible, for pigs are a dignified people, let’s turn to classical mythology: name at least one pig from a prominent place in myth.
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June’s summer-themed quiz generated the habitual haplessness among our humid-brained respondents, but Lon Caruso, of Paterson, New Jersey, got 12 correct answers and took the laurel. He’ll receive a handsome first edition of William Dean Howells’s Indian Summer, signed by none other than the editors of Open Letters Monthly. Call the Antiques Roadshow, Mr. Caruso! Last month’s answer follow:
1. Name five works of literature whose titles include the word “summer” (we’re well aware that during the summer even the most perspicacious of us tend to devolve into wallowing hippopotami, but please: Edith Wharton’s Summer does not qualify).
—Summer in Baden-Baden, Indian Summer, Summer and Smoke, The Dangerous Summer, Prodigal Summer
2. Quote five famous lines of literature in which the word “summer” occurs that have never been made into a book title.
—“One swallow does not make a summer” (Aristotle)
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer” (Camus)
“I see you boys of summer in your ruin” (Dylan Thomas)
“In summer, the song sings itself” (William Carlos Williams)
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” (duh)
3. Name five works of literature in which the season of summer plays a pivotal role (extra points if you can describe the role).
—“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Jaws, A Banner With A Strange Device, Endless Love, Slaughterhouse V
4. Name five works of literature whose titles includes the names of any of the month’s of summer.
—The Guns of August, July’s People, July, July, August 1914, Light in August
5. Even in these fraught times for America, the 4th of July is still the centerpiece of the summer. Name five works of literature that also feature the 4th of July as a centerpiece.
—Independence Day, “1776,” “The Fourth of July,” (Horton Foote) The Education of Henry Adams, 4th of July (James Patterson)
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