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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following does NOT describe Wilhelm Dinesen?

2. In what year did Dinesen publish her first story?

3. In what year did Dinesen accept a marriage proposal?

4. Which of the following does NOT describe Bror?

5. In what year did Wilhelm Dinesen marry?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Dinesen so prolific in her condemnation of racism and prejudice against the Kenyan people?

2. What mental affliction might Dinesen have suffered from and what was the main symptom?

3. When and where was Isak Dinesen born and by what other names was she known?

4. Why was becoming an adult not what Dinesen expected in terms of her life's direction?

5. How has Dinesen's biography been compared to a novel?

6. Describe the contentious relationship Dinesen had with her brother, Thomas?

7. How could Dinesen's marriage to Bror best be described?

8. Explain why Dinesen was drawn to the feminist movement of the early 20th century.

9. How did World War I put even more strain on Dinesen's relationships with the aristocratic landowners?

10. What was the nature of Dinesen's relationship with her father and how did she address her feelings of loss after his death many years later?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Who was Thorkild Bjornvig and what role did he play in Isak Dinesen's life? Why was Bjornvig so important to Dinesen? Why did the relationship between the two end so disastrously?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the role of Dinesen's family in her life. What impact did Dinesen's father have on her life? What was Dinesen's relationship with her siblings? How did the family evolve in its support of each other? What was the nature of Dinesen's strained relationship with her brother, Thomas?

Essay Topic 3

Explain the impact that Isak Dinesen had on the world of literature in the 20th century. How was her work perceived? What did she give up in order to create? How did she feel about her own work? How is Dinesen perceived today on the world stage of literature?

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