Sunday Times/Faber Literary Quiz

[phoenixxx]

Hi all

That time of year again...

My early contribution is the pictures section:

1. Dorothy Edwards
2. Frances Partridge
3. Alison Uttley
4. Joan Bakewell
5. William Golding
6. Muriel Spark

Any offers?

[Flapwing]

I am still struggling with Parties 4 - condoms and the Caribbean - someone must remember. Inflated condoms figure in Lucky Jim but I know no others.

[monaghan]

Thanks LG123 for advice on Naipaul (I spelt it right this time!). Here are some ideas going around my head!
As regards Parties 4- the answer is the novel's narrator so that excludes quite a few books. I think this is too modern for me. Presume it is a comic novel!!??.
Injuries 5 - eponymous hero - does this mean his name features in the title of a novel?
Lastly (for now) Financial Fraud 2 - trying to think of alternatives for garden : I have never read any Pullman novels but I know some are set in Oxford Botanic Gardens. Also is the swindler's daughter the victim or the assailant?

[slaney]

Injuries 5. I am wondering about Oedipus (clubfoot - so called after his birth injuries)
Was Laius a drunkard?

[monaghan]

Think you have it Slaney! Laius upset by his childless marraige to Jocasta consults Oracle - told childlessness blessing as any child of his union wtih Jocasta would murder him. Therefore 'avoids' Jocasta. She plies? him with drink ( ie a drunkard) and Oedipus is born. Laius abandons Oed. having pierced his feet with nails (ie injured foot). Arugment at crossroads over right of way - Laius runs over Oed.'sfoot (another foot injury). Oed. hurls Laius from chariot (get entangled in reins and dragged to death). Or am I misinterpreting?

[LG123]

Oedipus does sound prmoising, but I have a nagging worry about it; the question calls for an 'Eponymous Hero', inferring that there is a specific work (book, play, poem, etc) involved in the answer. So if it was Oedpius, what work would it be from?

[yellow11]

oedipus rex/oedipus at thebes/oedipus colonus

[slaney]

Sorry - yes, it was Oedipus Rex by Sophocles I was thinking of.

[LG123]

Not that I know much detail about it, but from articles about 'Oedipus rex', it seems the part of the story where Oedipus kills his father is not in the Play. Also, I don't think Laius was Drunk at the time he was killed...

[monaghan]

That's why I thought I might be twisting things about. Laius was sober when he meets his death but drunk when Oed. conceived, so I can see why we are not entirely happy. I'm going mad thinking about this question. Any heroes on crutches - broken legs, sprained ankles - I've even toyed with the idea of a horse throwing its rider!!

[monaghan]

I think I might just have answered my own question! Forget about Oedipus - How about Black Beauty - Reuben Smith was dismissed for being drunk but gets job back but succombs to temptation knows Black Beauty has loose shoe - continues to ride and too drunk to realise shoe has come off. BB in great pain as hoof finally splits can't go on Reuben is thrown from horse and is killed. I rest my case (or not as may be!)

[LG123]

Well, I must say that's very fiendish of the Quiz setters if it's right! It certainly sounds good to me actually...can it really be true ?!!!

[monaghan]

II really think it is! Part 2 - Chapters 25/26 Black Beauty. Google it and see what you think?

[LG123]

Well, I'm definitely sold on the idea!

[slaney]

Great answer monaghan - I haven't read it since I was about twelve, but it all comes back to me now!

[LG123]

I think I have Parties 4 - It's The Comedians by Graham Greene. It's set in Haiti and the narrators called Brown. In the Novel the inflatables in question are referred to as French Letters rather than condoms.

[Flapwing]

LG123 - sheer genius
and you Monaghan. I shall sleep a little easier tonight.

[phoenixxx]

Well done all - looks like the only one we have no idea about is fraud 2. Will try to check some of the more vague ideas today.

[monaghan]

I think it's years of doing cryptic crosswords that helped me to get Black Beauty! Well done on The Comedians and there was me thinking it would be too modern for me. I even tried googling french letters and novels but only got directed to letters written in French! Getting desperate now but on the cryptic theme for Financial Fraud 2 - could the word Victorian relate to coming from the state of Vixtoria in Australia. Any Australian fictional fraudsters come to mind?

[LG123]

Well, this one's got me stumped. It seem strange that this is the one we can't get - there seem to be lots of references in the question that should be traceable - but nothing doing! Also the term 'Fatal Assignation' seems a strange one, I can't quite see what they mean...

[monaghan]

Me too. OK: fatal - implies ends in death. Assignation: pre-arranged meeting. Garden: could be anything from Eden, Botanic, Kensington Gardens. Swindler: embezller?, forger, confidence trickster, Who is the victim - the swindler's daughter or the person being met?. Could be play, poem or novel. Victorian - was it written then or set then. Surely it rings a bell with some one out there!?