Pulitzer Prize Winners in Fiction Quiz

Launched as an incentive to excellence, the Pulitzer Prize began as a series of awards in several categories of publishing for writers that deeply reflected American life in their work. This is a quiz about books in the Fiction category.

1. Written by Wallace Stegner, "Angle of Repose" is based on the letters of Mary Hallock Foote, an author who wrote books about miners in the American west. It tells the story of Susan, an artist from New York, who meets an idealistic engineer named Oliver, a wanderer who liked to travel the west in search of work.

In 1999 it was voted #1 among the best 20th century novels written about the American West by readers of the San Francisco Chronicle.

2. Joe Kavalier and Sam Clay are Jewish-American cousins who use their unique talents to create superheros for the comics, some of which paint Hitler in an ominous light. Joe the magician had escaped from the Czech Republic during the German invasion, which gave rise to the idea of their most beloved creation: the Escapist.

The book was well-received by critics and may serve as a benchmark in 21st century literature.

3. "A Thousand Acres" is thought to be a modernized version of Shakespeare's "King Lear". Each of the names of the main characters start with the same letter as the Shakespearean character they resemble. Larry the farmer is King Lear, Ginny is Goneril, Rose is Regan, and Caroline is Cordelia.

4. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "South Pacific" is largely based on Michener's book. "Tales of the South Pacific" is actually a collection of short stories that were merged together in the musical. The stories are all interconnected with each other, taking place in the Coral Sea and Solomon Islands.

5. "The Goldfinch" is based on a real painting by Carel Fabritius. In the book it was Theo's mother's favorite painting, perhaps lending some mystical power to his meeting with the redhead girl. This was Donna Tartt's first book in eleven years, and she certainly delivered.

6. It's interesting that "A Fable" won multiple awards, yet was panned by critics and became largely ignored in today's reading world. Set in the trenches of World War I, it offers powerful insights into the human condition, using a peacemaking corporal as an allegory of Jesus. I've read most of Faulkner and also feel it's the capstone of his career.

7. 1976 was a big year for Saul Bellow. Not only did he win the Pulitzer Prize that year, but the Nobel Prize in Literature as well. "Humboldt's Gift" was highly responsible for that. It follows the life of a writer torn between two philosophies, one in support of artistic integrity and the other in commercial interests.

8. William Styron's fictional portrayal of Nat Turner caused an uproar, mostly because antebellum whites in the novel are depicted as saintly and innocent, while (some) blacks are portrayed as monstrous. Nat Turner and his freed slaves killed 60 white people before they were caught and executed, ultimately hurting the cause for civil rights in the state of Virginia.

9. March is the father from Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women". Since Louisa based "Little Women" on her own life, Brooks used her father's journals as the primary source of material for the novel. Mr. Alcott was friends with Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who feature in the book.

10. Author Anthony Doerr took ten years to write "All the Light We Cannot See". It was critically acclaimed, nearly winning the National Book Award in addition to the Pulitzer - something which few authors have achieved. The title is a reference to all the wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum we can't see: radio waves being the most relevant.

This quiz is dedicated to a friend of mine whose goal is to read every Pulitzer Prize winning novel. In 2015 he was about 70% of the way through. 

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