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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. Which element of the physical world never gives the unnamed narrator a "little thrill" (107)?
(a) The ocean.
(b) The sky.
(c) Built space.
(d) The natural world.

2. Noor tells the unnamed narrator that her late father had shared a "strong sense" of what kind of "identity" (99) with her?
(a) Chilean.
(b) Cuban.
(c) Iranian.
(d) Lebanese.

3. Alena puts the pieces of a shattered sculpture by which artist into the unnamed narrator's hands?
(a) Andy Warhol.
(b) Salvador Dali.
(c) Jeff Koons.
(d) Henri Matisse.

4. How many "substantial lines" does the intern do "in quick succession" (185) in an attempt to impress the unnamed narrator at the party?
(a) 5.
(b) 3.
(c) 2.
(d) 4.

5. About what subject does the unnamed narrator pontificate when the intern begs him to speak aloud?
(a) Pluto's demoted status.
(b) The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.
(c) The spawning of salmon.
(d) The qualities of the equator.

Short Answer Questions

1. The unnamed narrator tells the distinguished female author that his next book will involve a woman lying about having which malady?

2. To what location is the unnamed narrator referring when he has the distinguished female author in hysterical laughter over the "masturbatorium" (125)?

3. When the unnamed narrator and the distinguished female author hit it off at the literary dinner, what dessert do they share?

4. The unnamed narrator's residency house is located across the street from which poet's former home?

5. At what point in the party does the unnamed narrator decide not to use what he believes is cocaine?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Lerner use irony to portray the scene of the party depicted in Part Four?

2. What aspect of Walt Whitman's strange autobiography Specimen Days disgusts the unnamed narrator and why?

3. How does the theme of identity arise within the story about her family Noor relates to the unnamed narrator in Part Three?

4. In what way does the unnamed narrator set up a dichotomy between the art of the "readymade" (133) and the totaled art in Alena's institute?

5. Name three excuses the unnamed narrator uses when people ask to see him during his writers' residency.

6. For what purpose does the unnamed narrator visit the seventh floor of New-York Presbyterian Hospital at the beginning of Part Three?

7. What is the unnamed narrator's specific reason for feeling the way he does about the totaled art?

8. What distinction does the unnamed narrator make between his requirements for reading conditions and his requirements for writing conditions?

9. How does the unnamed narrator end up at a party in Part Four?

10. What are the consequences of the mistake the intern makes in Part Four?

(see the answer keys)

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