The Duchess of Malfi Summary

The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Italy, mostly at the Duchess’s palace in Malfi, in the sixteenth century. The Duchess is a young widow whose two brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are visiting her from Rome at the play’s start. Antonio, the manager of her household, has just returned from France. Before leaving the Duchess, Ferdinand engages Bosola, previously used by the Cardinal as a hit man, to ostensibly manage the Duchess’s horses, but in reality to spy on her for the brothers so they can be sure she remains chaste and does not remarry. Bosola is reluctant, but eventually agrees.
Before they return to Rome, Ferdinand and the Cardinal lecture the Duchess about the impropriety of remarriage. She insists that she has no plans for remarriage, and shows some irritation at their attempts to control her. However, as soon as they leave, she sets in motion a plan to propose to Antonio with the help of her maid, Cariola. Antonio and the Duchess marry, and the Duchess reassures Antonio that they will find a way to appease her brothers.
Act Two is set about nine months later. The Duchess is pregnant and Bosola, suspecting her condition, hatches a plan to prove it to himself by giving her apricots, thought to induce labor. She accepts them, and immediately becomes ill, rushing off to her bedroom. Antonio and Delio discuss how to keep her labor secret.

Bosola now assumes his belief is correct, but finds further definitive proof through a horoscope Antonio wrote for the infant. With the information confirmed, Bosola he writes a letter to the Duchess’s brothers to tell them the news. The brothers are both incensed, but the Cardinal maintains a cool calm, whereas Ferdinand grows erratically angry. Neither of them realizes that she is married, and hence assume the baby is a bastard. Ferdinand says he won’t take any action until he knows who the baby’s father is.
Act Three begins about two years later, with Delio’s return to the Duchess’s palace. Antonio and the Duchess have had two more children in the meantime. Ferdinand has recently arrived, and both Antonio and Delio suspect that he knows about the Duchess’s children. Ferdinand surprises the Duchess in her bedroom, and when she tells him that she is married, he tells her she should never reveal to him the name of her lover lest terrible violence then be unleashed on all of them. He further banishes her forever from his sight.
The Duchess, who wishes to protect Antonio by removing him from Malfi, falsely claims he has stolen from her and hence has him banished to Ancona. Once he has left, Bosola defends his virtue to the Duchess so emphatically that she admits the secret of their marriage. Bosola pretends to support her, and she sends him after Antonio with money and news that she will soon follow him. In Ancona a few days later, the Cardinal catches up to them and banishes the Duchess and her family from there.
On their way out of town, Bosola brings her an ostensibly forgiving but actually threatening letter from Ferdinand, and so the Duchess, fearing an ambush, tells Antonio to separate from her with their oldest son. Immediately after they part, Bosola and a group of soldiers take the Duchess and her two remaining children captive and bring them back to her palace.
In Act Four, Bosola tells Ferdinand that the Duchess is bearing her imprisonment nobly, which angers him. In an effort to make her insane with despair, he presents her with wax corpses of her family to convince her they have died. Though Bosola pleas with Ferdinand to cease his torture, he won’t listen, and instead sends a group of madmen to torment her. Bosola returns, disguised as a tomb-maker, and prepares the Duchess for her impending death. Executioners follow with a cord to strangle her, but the Duchess remains steadfastly calm and courageous, at peace with the idea of rejoining her family, who she still believes are dead. They strangle her.
Bosola next orders her children and Cariola killed. Cariola pleads for her life, to no avail. When Ferdinand confronts the Duchess’s body, he is suddenly overtaken with remorse and angry at Bosola for following his orders. He not only betrays Bosola by refusing the latter a promised reward, but also shows signs of insanity before he exits. The Duchess shows a final sign of life, and before she truly dies, Bosola tells her that Antonio is still alive. Bosola shows genuine sadness when she dies.

In Act Five, Antonio, ignorant of his wife and children’s deaths, plans to beg the Cardinal that night for a reconciliation. Ferdinand has now completely lost his mind and is afflicted with lycanthropia, or the belief that he is a wolf.
Bosola arrives and the Cardinal pretends that he has no idea about the Duchess's death. He offers Bosola a great reward for the murder of Antonio, an offer Bosola accepts even though he is plotting revenge. Julia, the Cardinal’s mistress, approaches Bosola, declaring her love for him, and Bosola uses her to get the Cardinal to admit his involvement in the Duchess's murder.
After the Cardinal kills Julia, Bosola reveals he has overheard the secret and demands his reward killing the Duchess. The Cardinal, once again, promises it will come after he has killed Antonio and helped him get rid of Julia’s body. Bosola pretends to agree, but tells the audience that he will find Antonio to either protect him or help him get his vengeance against the Cardinal and Ferdinand.
The Cardinal tells his courtiers to stay away no matter what they hear from him or Ferdinand, ostensibly because Ferdinand’s madness gets worse when people are around, but actually because he wants privacy with which to dispose of Julia’s body. Bosola, waiting outside the Cardinal’s room, accidentally kills Antonio, who has come to see the Cardinal. Distraught, he goes into the Cardinal’s room and attacks him.
Because of the Cardinal’s warning, his courtiers at first ignore his cries for help. Ferdinand joins the fray and stabs both the Cardinal and Bosola. Bosola kills Ferdinand. The courtiers finally enter in time to see the Cardinal and Bosola die, but not before the latter has confessed the particulars of the situation. Delio enters with Antonio and the Duchess’s oldest son, who is the sole survivor of the family. Delio and the courtiers promise to raise the boy as a legacy to his parents, which gives the play a final glimmer of hope.
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The Role of Women Throughout the Ages of Literature

The Role of Women Throughout the Ages of Literature

Greek Mythology

Women in Greek mythology were perceived to be more as sexual objects than individuals. Many were taken advantage of by the Gods and by human beings. One would see that women’s rights were very limited and they were not allowed to express much of their freedoms. Within this time period women were blamed for wars, destruction of towns, and the death of men. It was not unliky to see goddesses using their powers for vengeance. Although the role of human women was limited the existence of goddesses attributed great amounts of power to female characters.

Medieval Literature

The women of the Medieval times were surprisingly a lot more candid and sexual than one might expect of an era where the ideal of femininity was Mary, the mother of Jesus. In actuality, the women in the literature of the period, as well as the historical female figures seemed to be torn between the ideal and the physical desires and domineering character that her antagonist, Eve, embodies. In a careful reading of the literature of the time, one finds the first buds of a feminist literature emerging from the words on the pages.

Elizabethan Literature

The theme of misogyny and superiority of men was the typical genre that authors took within their writing. Women were not looked to as a person but were considered a mere necessity for the procreation process. Women continued to be split between the ideal of the Virgin Mary, and her fallible counterpart, Eve. Unfortunately, the Virgin Mary was one of a kind, so there was often a general distrust of women. This distrust of women lead to most works degrading the female race, and terming females as the "other", which was to be feared. Equality between the sexes was not present within this era, and is evident from the numerous writings degrading the female race.

Victorian and Turn of the Century Literature

The role of women in 19th century literature was one in which they redefine their place in society by accepting an image of themselves which involved both home-centeredness and inferiority. Elizabeth Gaskell did not concede to the idea of women’s inferiority, although she does concede to the notion that a woman’s place is in the home, as is evident by her portrayal of Bessie in her poem “Cranford.” In this time period, women were being portrayed as protagonists more often than in the past. In Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary, Emma, the lead character, is portrayed as a “tragic heroine.” At the time the book was written (1856), the character of Emma was viewed as foolish and putting herself in narrow circumstances. Her suicide demonstrates the dangers of life for women who were looking to become independent at that time. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, “The Princess” states,

Man for the field and woman for the hearth,
Man for the sword and for the needle she:
Man with the head and woman with the heart:
Man to command and woman to obey

It is evident from these works that during this time women were still in a subjugated role despite their desire to break free of societies’ restrictions.

20th Century Literature

Women’s roles in literature has evolved throughout history and had lead women to develop into strong independent roles. Modern literature has served as an outlet and sounding board for women’s rights and feminist pioneers. Female writers have come to the fore front and provided today’s readers with a vast array of ethnic and cultural perspectives. The unique voice of female minorities is a common theme in many coming of age novels that allows each writer to establish a separate identity for their characters and themselves. Women in modern literature often include strong independent females juxtaposed by oppressed women to provide examples for young female readers and to critique short comings of our society. The emergence of the independent female novelist in America has allowed for a new evolution of the role of women in fictional literature.

Spanish and Latin American Literature

It is difficult to summarize the role of women in Hispanic literature, as it has been ever changing. At times she may be submissive, at others, the fiercest of beasts, and most surprisingly sometimes seemingly weak but in actuality the most contriving of creatures. It is surprising to see a feminist view point since the Medieval times in Spanish and Latin American literature, but it’s most productive era has come to exist in the last twenty years.

 plaza.ufl.edu/jess16/MultiplePerspectives/

What are the benefits of registration with the Election Commission of India?

What are the benefits of registration with the Election Commission of India?

Ans. The candidates set up by a political party registered with the Election Commission of India will get preference in the matter of allotment of free symbols vis-à-vis purely independent candidates. Further, registered political parties, in course of time, can get recognition as `State Party’ or National Party’ subject to the fulfillment of the conditions prescribed by the Commission in the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, as amended from time to time. If a party is recognised as a State Party’, it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it in the State of States in which it is so recognised, and if a party is recognised as a `National Party’ it is entitled for exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates set up by it throughout India. Recognised `State’ and `National’ parties need only one proposer for filing the nomination and are also entitled for two sets of electoral rolls free of cost and broadcast/telecast facilities over Akashvani/Doordarshan during general elections.

What is the procedure for registration?

What is the procedure for registration?

Ans. An application for registration is to be submitted to the Secretary, Election Commission of India, Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001 in the proforma prescribed by the Commission. The Performa is available on request by post or across the counter from the office of the Commission. The proforma and necessary guidelines are also available on the Commission's website under the main heading Judicial References, sub-heading Political Party and sub-sub-heading Registration of Political Parties(Click Here). The same can be downloaded from there also. The application should be neatly typed on the party’s letter head, if any, and it should be sent by registered post or presented personally to the Secretary to the Election Commission within thirty days following the date of formation of the party.
2. The application must be accompanied by the following documents/information:-
(i) A demand draft for Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand Only) on account of processing fee drawn in favour of Under Secretary, Election Commission of India, New Delhi. The processing fee is non-refundable.
(ii) A neatly typed/printed copy of the memorandum/rules and regulations/Constitution of the Party containing a specific provision as required under sub-section (5) of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 in the exact terms, which reads "---------------(name of the party) shall bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of India as by law established, and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India". The above mandatory provision must be included in the text of party constitution/rules and regulations/memorandum itself as one of the Articles/clauses.
(iii) The copy of the party Constitution should be duly authenticated on each page by the General Secretary/President/Chairman of the Party and the seal of the signatory should be affixed thereon.
(iv) There should be a specific provision in the Constitution/rules and regulations/memorandum of the party regarding organizational elections at different levels and the periodicity of such elections and terms of office of the office-bearers of the party.
(v) The procedure to be adopted in the case of merger/dissolution should be specifically provided in the Constitution/rules and regulations/memorandum.
(vi) Certified extracts from the latest electoral rolls in respect of at least 100 members of the party (including all office-bearers/members of main decision-making organs like Executive Committee/Executive Council) to show that they are registered electors.
(vii) An affidavit duty signed by the President/General Secretary of the party and sworn before a First Class Magistrate/Oath Commissioner)/ Notary Public to the effect that no member of the party is a member of any other political party registered with the Commission.
(viii) Individual affidavits from at least 100 members of the party to the effect that the said member is a registered elector and that he is not a member of any other political party registered with the Commission duly sworn before a First Class Magistrate/Oath Commissioner)/Notary Public. These affidavits shall be in addition to the furnishing of certified extracts of electoral rolls in respect of the 100 members of the applicant party mentioned at (vi) above.
(ix)Particulars of Bank accounts and Permanent Account Number, if any, in the name of the party.
(x)Duly completed CHECK LIST alongwith requisite documents prescribed therein.
3. The application along with all the required documents mentioned above should reach the Secretary to the Commission within 30 days following the date of formation of the party.
4. Any application made after the said period will be time-barred.

Summary of John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies Lecture 1 -Sesame or The King’s Treasuries

            John Ruskin opens his essay by apologizing for the ambiguity in the title.  He says that the title is ambiguous and figurative in nature.  By king’s treasuries, he means the best books written by the most brilliant authors and not other material things.  The whole of the lecture is about books and the way to read them.

          He says that modern education is materialistic and it aims at advancement.  This aim is narrow.  The speaker says that love of praise and reputation moves humankind primarily.  On the other hand, duty moves them secondarily.  He says that clever persons wish to become high in status.  To achieve higher status we should have sincere and good friends.

          Best books are said to be best friends.  He divides books into four types:

i)             Good books of the hour – has enlightened talks of some persons.  They could talk about travels or in the form of novels.

ii)           Good books for all life

iii)         Bad books of the hour

iv)          Bad books for all life

          Great authors, statesmen, philosophers and thinkers write books for all life.  Nobody can enter into these unless they stoop.  We must enter into the thoughts of such writers, which is a difficult task.  They write long sentences and serious thoughts are hidden in those sentences.  So we should read them carefully.

          An educated man need not know all things but he must learn a few languages.  He must be aware of words and its origins.  English language is of a mongrel breed.  Their words are deceptive.  For example the word condemn originates from the Greek word “damno”.  It does not have the power of the Greek word in it.  A good scholar must know the vital meanings of words.  Ruskin asks the readers to read Max Muller’s “The Science of Languages” to understand English language better.

          Later Ruskin analyses Milton’s Lycidas.  He considers Milton as a great scholar.  Common minds are full of filth and prejudice.  It should be cleansed.  It is necessary to burn the jungle of bad ideas than to sow the fertile ground among thorns.

          The real gift of great writers is that they kindle passion in us.  Passions are good things but they must be tested and disciplined.  In England, passion means low-headed crimes.  Ruskin attacks English people.  They are under the control of passion.  English people spend a lot of money and time in horse and not in books.

          English people despise science.  There are very few utilitarian inventions in England when compared with other countries.  English arts are far behind other countries.  English people destroy nature and create racecourse.  English economics is also very poor.  There is wide gap between the rich and the poor.  The churches and the cathedrals are also current in England.

          Ruskin concluded his lecture by saying that a nation rich in literature would be the best in the world.  A king must be sympathetic to his people and he should encourage people to read more books.

Summary of John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies Lecture 2 - Of Queen’s Gardens

Introduction             

            The theme of this lecture is how women can possess kingly power conferred to them by education.  If women get education, they become powerful and prestigious.  There is no difference between man and woman; they are complementary to each other.  Aim of education is to get acquainted with the wisest and greatest people through books.

Women in Literature

            Shakespeare is said to have no heroes but only heroines.  Othello, Hamlet, Julius Ceaser, Merchant and Orlando are all weaker than Desdemona, Cordellia, Isabella, Portia and Rosalind.  Tragedy occurs because the heroes does fatal mistake.  Shakespeare’s women are clever and intelligent.  Among Shakespeare’s women Ophelia is weak and Lady Macbeth, Regan and Goneril are wicked.  Thus, Shakespeare views women to be more capable than men.  He also quotes women characters of Walter Scott, Dante and Chaucer.  Women in these literature are real and not imaginary.

Role of Women at Home

            The view that men are always wiser, the thinker and the ruler is wrong.  Women are not dolls.  They play the role of a lover to encourage and guide men.  The lover has sense of duty towards her man.  Their marriage marks the change of temporary service into eternal affair.  Man works out of his home.  He faces a lot of trouble and he is hardened.  Woman is the mistress of home and she is to maintain peace and good atmosphere at home.  A good wife is a home in herself.

Education to Women

            Women must be educated in physical training.  They should gain good health and beauty.  The best poem that reflects this is Wordsworth’s “Education of Nature”.  A woman’s good nature is reflected in her face.  She should never suffer.  She should have three characters – physical beauty, natural instinct of justice and natural tact of love.  She must read history.  Theology is a dangerous science for women.  It makes her superstitious.  Her knowledge must of general nature.  She need not specialize in a specific field.  She must not read romantic novels and poetry, because they contain falsehoods.  Girls should be left in library.  They must be taught music, because music has healing power.  As boys are courageous, girls are also courageous.  They should not develop any complexities like superiority or inferiority complex.

Women in Society and Politics

            Later he talks about role of women in society and politics.  Man’s public duties are extensions of his duties at home similarly woman’s duty could be extended to public.  Man defends the country and a woman defends the family economy.  A woman is a queen, a queen of her lover, queen to her husband and children.  She can be called the “prince of peace”.  Ruskin is not surprised by the loss of life in war but the wasting of women power surprises him.

Conclusion

            The world is a big garden.  There is war all over the garden.  If women walk in the garden there could be change in war.  Women should come into the garden.  They must help men to get shelter.

literary quiz- questions & answers

1. What word, extended from a more popular term, refers to a fictional book of between 20,000 and 50,000 words? Novella
2. Who wrote the famous 1855 poem The Charge of the Light Brigade? Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-92)
3. In 1960 the UK publishing ban was lifted on what 1928 book? Lady Chatterley's Lover (by D H Lawrence)
4. In bookmaking how many times would an quarto sheet be folded? Twice (to create four leaves)
5. Who wrote the seminal 1936 self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People? Dale Carnegie
6. Who in 1450 invented movable type, thus revolutionising printing? Johannes Gutenberg
7. Which Polish-born naturalised British novelist's real surname was Korzeniowski? Joseph Conrad (1857-1924, full name Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski)
8. Which short-lived dramatist is regarded as the first great exponent of blank verse? Christopher Marlowe (1564-93 - Blank verse traditionally is unrhymed, comprising ten syllables per line, stressing every second syllable.)
9. Who wrote the maxim 'Cogito, ergo sum' (I think, therefore I am)? René Descartes (1596-1650, French philosopher and mathematician, in his work Discours de la Méthode, 1637.)
10. Who was the youngest of the three Brontë writing sisters? Anne Brontë (1820-49 - other sisters were Emily, 1818-48, and Charlotte, 1816-55, plus a brother, Branwell, 1817-48. The two oldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth died in childhood.)
11. What is the Old English heroic poem, surviving in a single copy dated around the year 1000, featuring its eponymous 6th century warrior from Geatland in Sweden? Beowulf
12. What relatively modern school of philosophy, popular in literature since the mid 1900s, broadly embodies the notion of individual freedom of choice within a disorded and inexplicable universe? Existentialism
13. What was the pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson? Lewis Carroll (1832-98)
14. Who wrote Dr Zhivago? Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960)
15. What term and type of comedy is derived from the French word for stuffing? Farce or farcical (from the French farcir, to stuff, based on analogy between stuffing in cookery and the insertion of frivolous material into medieval plays.)
16. What term originally meaning 'storehouse' referred, and still refers, to a periodical of various content and imaginative writing? Magazine
17. Who wrote the significant scientific book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687? Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
18. What 16th century establishment in London's Bread Street was a notable writers' haunt? The Mermaid Tavern
19. Who wrote the 1845 poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin? Robert Browning (1812-89)
20. Which American poet and humanist wrote and continually revised a collection of poems called Leaves of Grass? Walt Whitman (1819-92 - the title is apparently a self-effacing pun, since grass was publishing slang for work of little value, and leaves are pages.)
21. The period between 1450 and 1600 in European development is known by what term, initially used by Italian scholars to express the rediscovery of ancient Roman and Greek culture? The Renaissance (literally meaning rebirth)
22. What is the main dog character called in Norton Juster's 1961 popular children's/adult-crossover book The Phantom Tollbooth? Tock
23. Who detailed his experiences before and during World War I in Memoirs of a Foxhunting Man, and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer? Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)
24. What significant law relating to literary and artistic works was first introduced in 1709? Copyright (prior to which creators had no legal means of protecting their work from being published or exploited by others)
25. Who wrote the 1891 book Also Sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spake Zarathustra)? Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
26. What word, meaning 'measure' in Greek, refers to the rhythm of a line of verse? Metre (or meter)
27. Cheap literature of the 16-18th centuries was known as 'what' books, based on the old word for the travelling traders who sold them? Chapbooks (a chapman was a travelling salesman, from the earlier term cheapman)
28. What was Samuel Langhorne Clemens' pen-name? Mark Twain (1835-1910)
29. Derived from Greek meaning summit or finishing touch, what word refers to the publisher's logo and historically the publisher's details at the end of the book? Colophon
30. Japanese three-line verses called Haiku contain how many syllables? Seventeen
31. Stanley Kubrick successfully requested the UK ban of his own film based on what Anthony Burgess book? A Clockwork Orange
32. The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) code was increased to how many digits from 1 January 2007? Thirteen
33. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis asserts that people's perceptions and attitudes are affected particularly by what: book covers, book price, or words and language? Words and language (the theory applies to all media and language, in that the type of words and language read and used affects how people react to the world)
34. What is the female term equating to a phallic symbol? Yonic symbol
35. James Carker is a villain in which Charles Dickens novel? Dombey and Son (serialised 1846-8)
36. What famous 1818 novel had the sub-title 'The Modern Prometheus'? Frankenstein (by Mary Shelley)
37. Who wrote the 1947 book The Fountainhead? Ayn Rand
38. By what name is the writer François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778) better known? Voltaire
39. Which pioneering American poet and story-teller wrote The Fall of the House of Usher? Edgar Allen Poe (1809-49)
40. According to Matthew 27 in the Bible what prisoner was released by Pontius Pilate instead of Jesus? Barabbas
41. What was the 1920s arts group centred around Leonard and Virginia Woolf and the district of London which provided the group's name? The Bloomsbury Group
42. What Japanese term (meaning 'fold' and 'book') refers to a book construction made using concertina fold, with writing/printing on one side of the paper? Orihon
43. What were the respective family names of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet? Montague and Capulet
44. Who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking in 1953? Norman Vincent Peale
45. Around 100AD what type of book construction began to replace scrolls? Codex (a series of folios sewn together)
46. What name for a lyrical work, typically 50-200 lines long, which from the Greek word for song? Ode
47. Who wrote the 1866 book Crime and Punishment? Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81)
48. Who wrote the 1513 guide to leadership (titled in English) The Prince? Niccolo Machiavelli
49. William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey are commonly referred to as the 'what' Poets? Lake Poets (from around 1800 they lived close to each other in the Lake District of England)
50. In bookmaking, a sheet folded three times is called by what name? Octavo (creating eight leaves)
51. What is the parrot's name in Enid Blyton's 'Adventure' series of books? Kiki
52. Who wrote The French Lieutenant's Woman? John Fowles (1969)
53. What word, which in Greek means 'with' or 'after', prefixes many literary and language terms to denote something in a different position? Meta
54. "Reader, I married him," appears in the conclusion of what novel? Jane Eyre (by Charlotte Bronte, 1847)
55. Philosopher and writer Jeremy Bentham, 1748-1832, is associated with what school of thought? Utilitarianism (broadly Utilitarianism argues that society should be organised to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people)
56. What influential American philosopher and author wrote the book 'Walden, or Life in the Woods'? Henry David Thoreau (1817-62)
57. The ancient Greek concept of the 'three unities' advocated that a literary work should use a single plotline, single location, and what other single aspect? Time (or real time)
58. Which statesman won the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature? Sir Winston Churchill
59. Who is the second oldest of the Pevensie children in C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? Susan (bonus points: Peter is the oldest, Edmund is third and Lucy is youngest. The lion is Aslan. The first edition was published in 1950.)
60. Who wrote the plays Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard? Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904)
61. What technical word is given usually to the left-side even-numbered page of a book? Verso
62. Which two writers fought a huge unsuccessful legal action in 2006-7 claiming that Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code had plaguarised their work? Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh
63. What is the pen-name of novelist Mary Ann Evans (1819-80)? George Eliot
64. What technical word is given usually to the right-side odd-numbered page of a book? Recto
65. In what decade was the Oxford English Dictionary first published? 1920s (1928)
66. What simple term, alternatively called Anglo-Saxon, refers to the English language which was used from the 5th century Germanic invasions, until (loosely) its fusion with Norman-French around 12-13th centuries? Old English
67. Who wrote Brighton Rock (1938) and Our Man in Havana (1958)? Graham Greene
68. Laurens van der Post's prisoner of war experiences, described in his books The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of the New Moon (1970) inspired what film? Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
69. With which troubled son are parents Laius and Jocasta associated? Oedipus (The mythical Greek character unknowingly killed his father King Laius and married his mother Jocasta. Sigmund Freud's term Oedipus Complex refers to similar feelings supposedly arising in male infant development.)
70. Which Russian writer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970? Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008)
71. The book Eunoia, by Christian Bok, suggests in its title, and features exclusively what, in turn, in its first five chapters? The vowels a, e, i, o, u. (Each chapter contains words using only one vowel type. Bok says Eunoia means 'beautiful thinking'. Eunioa is otherwise a medical term based on the Greek meaning 'well mind'.)
72. Which great thinker collaborated with Sigmund Freud to write the 1933 book Why War? Albert Einstein
73. Legal action by J K Rowling and Warner Brothers commenced in 2007 against which company for its plans to publish a Harry Potter Lexicon? RDR Books
74. Who wrote the 1939 book The Big Sleep? Raymond Chandler
75. "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice which I've been turning over in my mind ever since," is the start of which novel? The Great Gatsby (F Scott Fitzgerald, 1925)
76. In the early 1900s a thriller was instead more commonly referred to as what sort of book? Shocker (or shilling shocker)
77. Who wrote the books Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame? Victor Hugo
78. In what decade were ISBN numbers introduced to the UK? 1960s (1966)
79. In 1969, P H Newby's book Something to Answer For was the first winner of what prize? Booker Prize (the Man Booker Prize from 2002)
80. Who established Britain's first printing press in 1476? William Caxton
81. The word 'book' is suggested by some etymologists to derive from the ancient practice of writing on tablets made of what wood? Beech (Boc was an Old English word for beech wood)
82. What is the name of the first digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971? Project Gutenberg
83. French writer Sully Prudhomme was the first winner of what prize in 1901? Nobel Prize for Literature
84. Who wrote Naked Lunch, (also titled The Naked Lunch)? William Burroughs (1959)
85. In Shakespeare's King Lear, which two daughters benefit initially from their father's rejection of the third daughter Cordelia? Goneril and Regan
86. What was Christopher Latham Scholes' significant invention of 1868? Typewriter
87. Which novel begins "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife..."? Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen, 1813)
88. Japanese author and playwrite Yukio Mishima committed what extreme act in 1970 while campaigning for Japan to restore its nationalistic principles? Suicide
89. Which American philosopher, and often-quoted advocate of individualism, published essays on Self-Reliance, Love, Heroism, Character and Manners in his Collections of 1841 and 1844? Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82)
90. Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, printed in Bruges around 1475 is regarded as the first book to have been what? Printed in the English language (Caxton later printed Canterbury Tales in Westminster in 1476, which is regarded as the first book printed in the English language in England.)
91. In what city does Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace begin? Saint Petersburg (Petrograd and Leningrad are recent alternative and now obsolete names of this city - the quizmaster/mistress can decide if these answers are correct..)
92. Which French writer declined the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964? Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980 - apparently he declined because he had an aversion to being 'institutionalised', although the real facts of the matter are elusive.)
93. What controversial novel begins: "[a person's name], light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, My soul," ? Lolita (by Vladimir Nabokov, 1955)
94. Jonathan Harker's Journal and Dr Seward's Diary feature in what famous 1897 novel? Dracula (by Bram Stoker)
95. What is the technical name for a fourteen-lined poem in rhymed iambic pentameters? Sonnet
96. "Make then laugh; make them cry; make them wait..." was a personal maxim of which novelist? Charles Dickens
97. What is the land of giants called in Gulliver's Travels? Brobdingnag
98. What prolific and highly regarded American author, who became a British subject a year before his death, wrote The Wings of the Dove; Washington Square, and the Golden Bowl? Henry James (1843-1916)
99. What term for a short, usually witty, poem or saying derives from the Greek words 'write' and 'on'? Epigram (epi = on, grapheine = write, which evolved into Latin and French to the modern English word)
100. What was the original title of the book on which the film Schindler's List was based? Schindler's Ark (by Thomas Keneally, which won the 1982 Booker Prize)

SELF INTRODUCTION IN ITERVIEW

Hello Sir/Madam,

Firstly, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself in front of you.

My name is Ashok. I'm born and brought up in Chennai.

I have completed B.Sc & M.Sc Statistics at Presidency College in Chennai. I did my schooling at Arignar Anna Government Higher Secondary School in Chennai itself.

I have work experience of 3.5 years as Contract employee from Tata Consultancy Services limited company.

My simplicity and punctuality is my great strength I have a friendly nature.

My weakness is I quickly believe in any to any other person.

About my family there are 4 members in my family excluding my father. My father passed away 20 years ago, my mother is house maker and doing clothes ironing job, my sister got married and brother is working in a private company as a fieldwork officer.

My goal is to be a respectable position in a reputed organization.

My hobbies are watching movies, swimming and playing cricket.

That's all about me.

Thank you Sir/Madam.