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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Chapter 1, Gardner states that "In a literary culture where the very notion of a 'masterpiece' is commonly thought" what?
(a) Barbaric.
(b) Dangerous.
(c) Immature.
(d) Impossible.

2. What author of Over the Edge does Gardner cite in Chapter 1?
(a) Franz Kafka.
(b) Harlan Ellison.
(c) James Joyce.
(d) Kurt Vonnegut.

3. What is one of the philosophers who has maintained that words inevitably distance us from the brute existence, according to Gardner in Chapter 1?
(a) Socrates.
(b) Kierkegaard.
(c) Plato.
(d) Nietzsche.

4. Which title does Raymond Carver say is the only one he recalls of John Gardner's manuscripts in the Forward?
(a) The Life and Times of Chaucer.
(b) Nickel Mountain.
(c) The King's Indian.
(d) Grendel.

5. Gardner writes in Chapter 1 that if one studies with whom, does he learn that Shakespeare is better than Mickey Spillane?
(a) Dr. Martin Meyer.
(b) Dr. Stanley Fish.
(c) Dr. Andrew Dryd.
(d) Dr. Michael Mortenson.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whose disguise in Jane Eyre does Gardner comment on as surprising in Chapter 1?

2. Gardner notes in Chapter 1 that Mercutio's madness is fantastic and what?

3. What author does Gardner remark has a persistent mean streak in his writing?

4. Who is one of the writers Gardner notes in Chapter 1 as having both a fine ear for language and also a fascination with the materials?

5. What author does Gardner say was known to arrive at a party and sit for ten minutes or more staring at guests and not answering when people addressed him in Chapter1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Gardner suggest as ways to understand the psychology of characters unlike themselves?

2. Who does Gardner refer to as the "best" novelists in Chapter 1? What lesson does he cite of them?

3. How does the young author learn technique through reading others?

4. What is the second indicator of talent that Gardner discusses in Chapter 1? What author does he cite in this?

5. What does Gardner write of Nabokov in Chapter 1?

6. How does Gardner define "setting," "plot," and "theme" in Chapter 1?

7. What does Gardner relate about the "author's character" in Chapter 1? How does he describe "special intelligence?"

8. What does Gardner write about showy language in Chapter 1?

9. What does Gardner remark of the author's sense of observation in Chapter 1?

10. How does Gardner explain characterization and story through his hypothetical story in Chapter 1?

(see the answer keys)

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