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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. What does Dr. Condor tell Hofmiller about the contraptions and treatments he has been providing for Edith?
(a) He says they are helping Edith make steady progress.
(b) He says they have not helped yet, but he is confident that they will lead to a cure eventually.
(c) He confesses that their main purpose is to enable him to continue billing Kekesfalva large sums of money.
(d) He says they have not been helpful, but he continues using them because they give the family hope.

2. How does Dr. Condor behave during dinner with Hofmiller and Kekesfalva?
(a) He stuffs himself with food and wine, ignoring everyone at the table.
(b) He eats only a little and lectures the others on the dangers of overeating.
(c) He is a lively dinner companion, entertaining everyone with stories about his travels.
(d) He bores the others with long stories about his medical research.

3. When Ilona asks Hofmiller why he did not come to the castle, what lie does he tell her?
(a) He admits that he simply did not want to come.
(b) He says he fell asleep and didn't wake up until it was too late.
(c) He says his parents had arrived unexpectedly for a visit.
(d) He says he had to inspect a horse his Colonel wanted to buy.

4. What does Dr. Condor tell Hofmiller about incurable illnesses?
(a) He says there is always hope because new cures are found routinely.
(b) He says that once a disease has been deemed incurable, there is no hope left.
(c) He says a cure will be found for Edith's condition within five years.
(d) He says Edith's condition is undoubtedly incurable.

5. How does Edith react when Josef, the butler, comes to take her for her exercises?
(a) She refuses to go with him.
(b) She asks Hofmiller to go with her and help with the exercises.
(c) She insists that a wheelchair be brought.
(d) She flies into a rage and insists on walking by herself although it's very difficult.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Ilona initially react to seeing Hofmiller in the street after he does not appear for dinner as has become his custom?

2. Why does Edith not dance with Hofmiller?

3. According to the book's introduction by Joan Acocella, why was the author, Stefan Zweig, so interested in the inner workings of the human mind?

4. What initially interested Kekesfalva about the estate Dietzenhof had inherited?

5. Why does Hofmiller go to Kekesfalva's home three days before the date of his dinner invitation?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Hofmiller attach so much importance to Kekesfalva's request that he speak to Dr. Condor?

2. After having a chance to speak with each other privately, how do Hofmiller and Dr. Condor change their initial impressions of each other?

3. What does Hofmiller mean when he says that everything that happens in the book began with a blunder?

4. How does learning about his past affect Hofmiller's feelings about Kekesfalva?

5. How does Hofmiller's decision to have his men trot rather than gallop their horses reflect the title of the book?

6. Describe how Kekesfalva got off on the wrong foot with Dietzenhof when they first met.

7. What is Dr. Condor's initial assessment of Edith's current medical condition?

8. Although Hofmiller finds himself enjoying his new sense of power and the comfort of being with with the Kekesfalva family, what keeps him from enjoying those feelings completely?

9. Briefly describe how Kekesfalva began his rise from poverty to wealth.

10. When Hofmiller has tea with Edith and Ilona, what does he learn about what caused Edith to become particularly upset about his invitation to dance?

(see the answer keys)

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