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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 29, Buffooneries, Chapter 30, Sententiae, Chapter 31, Appendix.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Writers "who cannot write" write in what style?
(a) Dialogues.
(b) Prose.
(c) Song lyrics.
(d) Poetry.

2. Which contemporary author does Mencken compare to Edgar Allan Poe because of his taste for the macabre?
(a) Ring Lardner.
(b) Ambrose Bierce.
(c) Hamlin Garland.
(d) James Huneker.

3. In a fabrication, what object did Mencken claim had a 75th anniversary on December 20th, 1917?
(a) The rifle.
(b) The lamppost.
(c) The bathtub.
(d) The telegraph.

4. According to Mencken, how will "anyone who appreciates aural beauty" regard opera?
(a) Absurd.
(b) Beautiful.
(c) Inspirational.
(d) Obnoxious.

5. What does the "metaphysical" type of person inevitably do?
(a) Tips their hat for no reason.
(b) Begs for spare change.
(c) Demands to know what you mean, even when it is obvious.
(d) Becomes paralyzed with fear over the enormity of the universe.

Short Answer Questions

1. Mencken sees authors as divided into which two classes?

2. What is the relationship between free will and morality?

3. In a story in Chapter 29, what is Yen Li-Shen's occupation?

4. Which classical composer could not "write for the mob"?

5. Who wrote Parsifal?

(see the answer key)

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