TASK DEFINITION: In this task you will be given a text passage from a trivia quiz. You should choose the category this question belongs to from these categories: History, Science, Social Science, Fine Arts, Literature. You can only choose one category, so if in doubt, please choose the closest match.
PROBLEM: The last thing he wrote before his suicide was a story entitled "Gleanings From" his most famous work, the longest of his "palm-of-the-hand" stories. David Henry Hwang wrote this man into a theatrical adaptation of this author's House of the Sleeping Beauties, written after his novel about the twin daughters of kimono salesmen, The Old Capital. Other novels by him deal with the six-month contest between Ottake and Shusai, and with the love of Shimmamura for a northern geisha. For 10 points, name this Japanese author of The Master of Go and Snow Country.

SOLUTION: Literature

PROBLEM: In one story about this figure, he forgives a man who murdered a woman because she wanted to have sex; he also converts Charisius and Mygdonia before being put to death by Misdaeus. According to tradition, he received the girdle of the Virgin Mary after she was assumed bodily into Heaven, and he is credited with authorship of the "Hymn of the Pearl. " His namesake Gospel describes Jesus killing a playmate for having bumped into Jesus's shoulder, while in John 14:5 he asks Jesus, "How can we know the way" at the Last Supper. Also called Didymus, meaning "Twin," and famous for spreading Christianity to India, this is, FTP, what apostle who asked to touch Jesus's wounds after the resurrection, leading to the epithet "Doubting"

SOLUTION: Social Science

PROBLEM: The Saptarishi granted a prince named Dhruva immortality as a star for his devotion to this figure, whose worship is the subject of the Bhagavata Purana. Six ways of surrendering to this figure are detailed in the Pancharatra, which also outlines the five manifestations of this figure. Followers of this god often wear a u-shaped tilaka made of mud on their foreheads. Many brahmin devotees of this god follow the teachings of (*) Ramanuja. This god is often depicted holding the Kaumodaki mace and a conch shell, and in one incarnation, this god becomes ruler of Ayodhya after rescued his wife from Ravana. This god rides the giant bird Garuda and his ten avatars include Rama and Krishna. For 10 points, name this Hindu preserver god who forms the trimurti with Brahma and Shiva.

SOLUTION:
Social Science