Victoria Finan 

Venice in literature – quiz

According to legend, the Floating City was founded on this day in 421 AD at the stroke of noon with the dedication of its first church, San Giacomo. Its crumbling palazzi and secret waterways have since inspired countless writers - but how much do you know about the city in literature?
  
  


  1. Which American writer said ‘Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go’?

    1. F Scott Fitzgerald

    2. Edith Wharton

    3. Truman Capote

    4. Raymond Chandler

  2. Which of these Shakespeare quotes comes from The Merchant of Venice?

    1. All that glisters is not gold.

    2. I am a man more sinned against than sinning.

    3. Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

    4. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.

  3. Their exploits took them from Oxford to Venice in Brideshead Revisited, but who do Charles and Sebastian go to visit there?

    1. Lady Marchmain

    2. Julia Marchmain

    3. Anthony Blanche

    4. Lord Marchmain

  4. Where did the narrator in Lord Byron’s semi-autobiographical poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage stand in Venice?

    1. The Bridge of Sighs

    2. St Mark’s Square

    3. Rialto Bridge

    4. Riva Degli Schiavoni

  5. Which Daphne de Maurier work is set in Venice?

    1. Don’t Look Now

    2. Rebecca

    3. The Birds

    4. My Cousin Rachel

  6. Which famous Venetian’s autobiography was called simply History of my Life?

    1. Casanova

    2. Marco Polo

    3. Titian

    4. Vivaldi

  7. Venice is the beat of which fictional detective?

    1. Michael Dibdin’s Aurelio Zen

    2. Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti

    3. Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano

    4. Tess Gerritsen’s Jane Rizzoli

  8. Père Lachaise in Paris and Highgate in London are two of Europe’s most notable cemeteries for writers - but which of these writers is not buried at Isola di San Michele in Venice?

    1. Frederick Rolfe

    2. Ezra Pound

    3. Joseph Brodsky

    4. Richard Yates

  9. In which Charles Dickens novel does the eponymous central character live in Venice for a short time?

    1. David Copperfield

    2. Little Dorrit

    3. Nicholas Nickelby

    4. Martin Chuzzlewit

  10. In which book set in Venice is a writer beguiled by a beautiful boy?

    1. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

    2. The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan

    3. The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

    4. The Aspern Papers by Henry James

Solutions

1:C, 2:A, 3:D, 4:A, 5:A, 6:A, 7:B, 8:D, 9:B, 10:A

Scores

  1. 5 and above.

    Why not try again?

  2. 7 and above.

    Get back in the gondola.

  3. 9 and above.

    Excellent result - you've read your way around Venice.

 

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