WHAT WILL SPILL OUT OF THE LITERARY TEST TUBE?

Inside every test tube, something happens: a reaction, a transformation. What pours out might be something entirely new.

The same goes for the literary world. What might spill out of a writer’s test tube? Take the test and find out.

Let’s check whether your imagination is as sharp as your logic.

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In Boris Vian's Froth on the Daydream, the main character takes a bath and sprinkles coarse salt on the wet bathmat. What happens?

The mat stops sliding and sticks to the floor.

Incorrect. Salt crystals do not create friction that way.

The mat bubbles up with froth.

Correct. The image reflects the novel's surreal logic.

In Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island, the engineer prepares a mixture of one hundred parts sand, thirty-five parts chalk, forty parts sodium sulfate, and two to three parts coal powder. What was it for?

Making glass.

Correct. A recipe for window glass.

Making plastic cups.

Incorrect. No elasticity-producing components.

In Anton Chekhov's story "Life Is Beautiful!", what useful advice does he give to anyone whose matches have spontaneously ignited in their pocket?

Sprinkle them generously with table salt.

Incorrect. Yes, sodium chloride does melt at high temperatures and could technically handle a pocket fire. But in Chekhov's world, that wouldn't make life any more beautiful.

Be grateful there’s no gunpowder stash in your pocket.

Correct. Chekhov's philosophy: you can feel perfectly fine in any situation, even the most explosive. The trick is realizing that "it could always be worse."

What potion did Hogwarts students brew in the Harry Potter series by adding sprigs of valerian, mistletoe berries, and a "standard ingredient" to water from the River Lethe?

The Draught of Living Death.

Incorrect. Valerian root is indeed a classic sleep aid, but this particular concoction is something else entirely.

The Forgetfulness Potion.

Correct. Lethe means forgetfulness.

In Vladimir Odoevsky's fairy tale "Moroz Ivanovich," the "huge silver nugget" that Grandfather Frost gives to the Sloth Girl melts as soon as she brings it indoors. What was it?

Ice.

Incorrect. An ice boulder would be transparent, more like a diamond than dull, matte silver.

Mercury.

Correct. It froze in extreme cold.

In Konstantin Paustovsky's The Golden Rose, he claims that if you "place a twig or a nail in such a spring," they will "turn into genuine works of art." What phenomenon is he describing?

Crystallization of salts.

Correct. Paustovsky is describing "hard mineral springs" where a saturated salt solution coats objects with "a multitude of white crystals."

A flight of fancy.

Incorrect. Technically speaking. It takes a developed imagination to see a twig encrusted with cloudy crystals as a Claude Monet water lily.

What chemical fate does Anna Akhmatova predict for gold in her poem "Whom people once called"?

It turns white.

Incorrect. White gold was a clever early 20th-century jewelry innovation, still popular worldwide. But that's an alloy, not pure metal. The poet was clearly interested in elemental matter and its prospects of decay.

It rusts.

Correct. Poetically powerful, chemically false.

What mischievous "stain-removal" advice does Grigory Oster give to children who've spilled thick cherry juice on their mother's white coat?

"Dip the whole coat" into the cherry juice.

Correct. The naive logic: dye the entire thing a uniform new color. Problem solved.

"Pour cold water over the stained coat, slice onion thinly, and sprinkle it on."

Incorrect. Not actually harmful advice — originally, this was part of the author's recipe for "Salad of Easily Offended Boys and Girls."

Congratulations on your victory! Not every reaction fits a formula, and your balance of imagination and reason clearly works in your favor. Keep experimenting in the space of The Global Wall.

The Wall Global

Not every reaction follows expectations, and this time life proved unpredictable. Try again and see what spills out next in the space of The Global Wall.

The Wall Global