Literature Quiz

Homer described the X in the Iliad as “a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire”

In genetics, X is a single organism composed of cells with more than one distinct genotype.

In animals, X is an individual derived from two or more zygotes, which can include possessing blood cells of different blood types, subtle variations in form (phenotype) and possibly even the possession of both female and male organs.

Answer explanation

According to Greek mythology, the Chimera, Chimaera, Chimæra, or Khimaira was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature from Lycia, Asia Minor, composed of different animal parts.

Typically, it is depicted as a lion with a goat's head protruding from its back and a tail ending with a snake's head. Some representations also include dragon's wings.

Edward Thomas and X were close friends. One day, as they were walking together, they came across two roads. Thomas was indecisive about which road to take, and in retrospect often lamented that they should have taken the other one.

After X returned to New Hampshire, he sent Thomas an advance copy of poem Y. Thomas took the poem seriously and personally, and it may have been significant in his decision to enlist in World War I. Thomas was killed two years later in the Battle of Arras.

Identify the poem Y.

Answer explanation

"The Road Not Taken" is a narrative poem by Robert Frost, first published in the August 1915 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, and later published as the first poem in the 1916 poetry collection, Mountain Interval.

Its central theme is the divergence of paths, both literally and figuratively, although its interpretation is noted for being complex and potentially divergent.

The word X first appeared in an 1839 Boston newspaper as a deliberate misspelling All Correct, part of a trend of playful language among young writers. Its popularity skyrocketed during the 1840 U.S. presidential election when supporters of Martin Van Buren, nicknamed “Old Kinderhook” after his hometown, adopted “Vote for X” as their campaign slogan.

What's the word I am looking for?

Whose Bollywood Cameo in the 2011 Movie Saat Khoon Maaf?

Answer explanation

7 Khoon Maaf (transl. 7 Murders Forgiven; read as "Saat Khoon Maaf"), released internationally as Seven Sins Forgiven, is a 2011 Indian Hindi dark comedy film.

The movie is based on Susanna's Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond.

Belle (竜とそばかすの姫, Ryū to Sobakasu no Hime, literally "the dragon and the freckled princess") is a 2021 anime sci-fi film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda. The plot follows a high school girl who, after entering a virtual world and becoming a globally beloved singer, embarks on an emotional and epic quest to uncover the identity of a mysterious dragon who's on the run from ruthless vigilantes.

The film is based on and inspired by a very famous fairy tale, whose most commonly retold version was published in 1756 by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont and has been adapted numerous times in various media.

Which famous fairy tale am I talking about?

____ __________ (4, 10)

From the moment

I started rolling my dad’s tube socks

And shooting imaginary

Game-winning shots

In the Great Western Forum

I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

This poem is a love letter to perhaps the greatest love of a famous sportspersons' life, who in turn is nicknamed after a snake. The poem’s title is also the name of a movie that won the Oscar for best animated short. The sportsperson passed away in 2020. Name the poem.

Answer explanation

Dear Basketball is a 2017 American animated film written and narrated by Kobe Bryant and directed and animated by Glen Keane, with music by John Williams.

It is based on a letter Bryant wrote for The Players' Tribune on November 29, 2015, announcing his retirement from basketball.

Más a Tierra is a Chilean island renamed as X island in the year 1966 in honor of a fictional character inspired by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish Royal Navy officer who spent over 4 years on this island due to unavoidable reasons.

The bible plays an important role in X's life which was the same for Selkirk during his life on the island.

Give me X.

Answer explanation

Robinson Crusoe is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of epistolary, confessional, and didactic forms, the book follows the title character (born Robinson Kreutznaer) after he is cast away and spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.

The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra" (now part of Chile) which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.

X in Baghdad is an Arabic novel written by Ahmed Saadawi.

In the aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a junk-dealer collects the scattered body parts of bomb victims with the intention of giving them a proper burial. When he stitches the body parts together it comes to life and starts on a mission of vengeance.

ID X, another famous literary work of the early 19th Century.

Answer explanation

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. Frankenstein tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment that involved putting it together with different body parts.

NASA researcher Jack Cover was looking for a name for his newly invented device.

He decided to name it after a book he had read as a child called “Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle” since the invention resembled a sort of electric rifle.

Name the device that is mostly used in law enforcement to control certain people.

Answer explanation

Taser (stylized in all caps) is a line of handheld conducted energy devices (CED) sold by Axon Enterprise (formerly Taser International). The device fires two small barbed darts intended to puncture the skin and remain attached to the target until removed by the user of the device.

The darts are connected to the main unit by thin wires that achieve a high dielectric strength and durability given the extremely high-voltage electric current they conduct (typically 50,000 volts, or 2,000 volts under load), which can be delivered in short-duration pulses from a core of copper wire in the main unit.

This enormous rush of current into the body produces effects ranging from localized pain to strong involuntary long muscle contractions, causing "neuromuscular incapacitation" (NMI), based on the mode of use (tasing frequency and environmental factors) and connectivity of the darts. When successfully used, the target is said to have been "tased".

“Well, Hitler, of course. When I was 15, he burned the books in the streets of Berlin. Then along the way I learned about the libraries in Alexandria burning 5000 years ago... That grieved my soul. Since I'm self-educated, that means my educators - the libraries - are in danger. And if it could happen in Alexandria, if it could happen in Berlin, maybe it could happen somewhere up ahead, and my heroes would be killed."

Identify which book’s inspiration is being talked about here by its author.

Answer explanation

Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury. It presents a future American society where books have been outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The novel follows in the viewpoint of Guy Montag, a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.