I WISH I WROTE THAT

by Greg Lohman

Solution: FIND MOTTO WORDS

The handout has quotes from works which are not by the authors listed. Sort the quotes by the incorrect authors (since there's one from each letter from A to N) and identify the real author of each quote. Also, outside the quote in each entry is a partial title of a work by another author.

Given author Quoted work Real author Title fragment
Asimov A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Twain THE DAMNED
Bulwer-Lytton The Lair of the White Worm Stoker STRENGTH
Cheever Hamlet Shakespeare THE HOUSE OF
Dreiser The Call of the Wild London LORD OF THE
Ellison Moby-Dick Melville LEAVES
Flaubert Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Carroll BREAKFAST
Grisham Peter Pan Barrie LITTLE
Hammett Robinson Crusoe Defoe BLOOD
Inge The Time Machine Wells TREASURE
Janowitz The Fall of the House of Usher Poe TO HAVE
Kingsolver The Picture of Dorian Gray Wilde CAT'S
L'Amour The Hound of the Baskervilles Doyle AND THE FURY
Molière Tess of the d'Urbervilles Hardy DARKNESS
Nabokov Great Expectations Dickens PRIDE

The instructions have incorrect quotes from works by the same (correct) authors as in the handout. The incorrect word or words in each quote are, once again, title fragments. Match the authors and you'll also match the title fragments.

Chapter Author Work Altered words Title fragment
1 Twain Pudd'nhead Wilson any man, but THE BEAUTIFUL AND
2 Carroll Through the Looking-Glass and sealing-wax OF CHAMPIONS
3 Dickens David Copperfield but experientia AND PREJUDICE
4 Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan stars EYE
4 Stoker Dracula your ways THAT HIDEOUS
4 London White Fang dogs FLIES
5 Melville Billy Budd, the Sailor at Christmas OF GRASS
5 Defoe The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders nothing of IN COLD
6 Hardy The Return of the Native heath for HEART OF
6 Barrie The Admirable Crichton servants WOMEN
7 Poe The Black Cat who has had AND HAVE NOT
8 Doyle A Study in Scarlet a drop THE SOUND
8 Shakespeare King Lear material sap SEVEN GABLES
8 Wells The War of the Worlds globe ISLAND

Now the incomplete works can be assembled. After uniting the titles in the order of the names given in the handout, use the given chapter numbers to index into the last names of the reconstructed works' authors. This yields the message FIND MOTTO WORDS.

First author Linking author Reconstructed work Final author Chapter Letter
Asimov Twain The Beautiful and the Damned Fitzgerald 1 F
Bulwer-Lytton Stoker That Hideous Strength Lewis 4 I
Cheever Shakespeare The House of Seven Gables Hawthorne 8 N
Dreiser London Lord of the Flies Golding 4 D
Ellison Melville Leaves of Grass Whitman 5 M
Flaubert Carroll Breakfast of Champions Vonnegut 2 O
Grisham Barrie Little Women Alcott 6 T
Hammett Defoe In Cold Blood Capote 5 T
Inge Wells Treasure Island Stevenson 8 O
Janowitz Poe To Have and Have Not Hemingway 7 W
Kingsolver Wilde Cat's Eye Atwood 4 O
L'Amour Doyle The Sound and the Fury Faulkner 8 R
Molière Hardy Heart of Darkness Conrad 6 D
Nabokov Dickens Pride and Prejudice Austen 3 S