Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Lit. Quiz

Rule:
  • If you must google it or Wiki it, at least try to preface the answer with something wittier than "LOL, even my dog could ace this".
I need the name of a book. So here are the facts.

It's not funny at all.

It has influenced philosophers, poets, playwrights, novelists, comic-book writers, painters, sculptors, film-makers and musicians. It even inspired a "grunge" album cover.

A country's leader once offered to pay a million dollars Sterling Pounds for a copy of this book.

Only two original copies of the manuscript are known to survive. One of them is in a city with the coordinates: 18°57'36"N, 72°49'12"E

Got it?

Hands on the buzzer, please. First three correct responses will receive a diamond-encrusted, solid-gold iPod effusive praise in a future post.

9 comments:

zigzackly said...

Dante's Inferno. In the Asiatic Library.

And for bonus points, the leader referred to was Mussolini.

(and didn't have to google the lat/long because it was my tagline once)

km said...

Partisan: You got part of the answer right. The book is the Commedia, or the Divine Comedy. Imagine, an original copy of the Divine Comedy resides in the Asiatic Society!

Zigzackly: "Divine Comedy", not just the "Inferno". But yes, you still qualify for Effusive Praise :)

sattva said...

this has been one of the coolest posts i've seen in a while :) and i cleary don't deserve Effusive Praise :(

Naveen Roy said...

Cool trivia...never knew this bit of info.....

km said...

Roy: You'd think Mumbai tourism would tell more people about this cool fact, right?

Sattva: thanks for your Effusive Praise of the post :))

zigzackly said...

Gah.

And after you say "It's not funny at all."

*Going off to hide in dark corner.*

zigzackly said...

BTW, one is not deserving of Effusive Praise, since one lives in the city. A mention of the AS's copy of Divine Comedy appears in at least two city pages in Bombay editions of newspapers in a given year.

And yet I muff it. *Going off to dig a hole in that dark corner.*

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