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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How many of the artists who come through Big Sur, in Miller's time there, are truly talented, according to Miller?
(a) 100.
(b) 20.
(c) 50.
(d) 12.

2. Miller states that well-behaved children rarely grow into what kind of adults?
(a) Well-behaved.
(b) Normal.
(c) Ill-behaved.
(d) Exceptional.

3. What would-be writer hopes to find the Cult of Sex and Anarchy?
(a) Roger.
(b) Phil.
(c) Ned.
(d) Ralph.

4. Miller is sometimes surprised by revelations of household tragedies too great to describe, even by who, whose domestic life is a sad joke?
(a) James.
(b) Conrad.
(c) Tolstoy.
(d) Chekhov.

5. Part 2, "Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri," Chapter 9 opens with Miller borrowing the _____ concept of "clearing,"
(a) Catholic.
(b) Calvinist.
(c) Quaker.
(d) Dianetics.

6. Who is the author of The Stranger in Big Sur?
(a) Jean-Paul Sartre.
(b) Henry Miller.
(c) Jack Kerouac.
(d) Lillian Bos Ross.

7. The adventures of Chama take place where?
(a) Brazil.
(b) Italy.
(c) New York.
(d) Mexico.

8. Who was Miller's childhood friend and a victim of poison gas in World War I?
(a) Phillip Simmons.
(b) Jackie Ross.
(c) Eddie Carney.
(d) Paul Burts.

9. Miller asserts in Part 1, "The Oranges of the Millennium," that people fail to realize that life is what?
(a) Dangerous.
(b) A dream.
(c) Serious.
(d) In God's image.

10. Which mystery writer provides research on the Essene cult?
(a) Agatha Christie.
(b) Lawrence Lipton.
(c) Sir Godfrey Higgins.
(d) Restif de la Bretonne.

11. Miller asserts that few city dwellers can stand solitude, but communities built on _____ and detachment are inevitable in this destructive world.
(a) Religion.
(b) Evolution.
(c) Benevolence.
(d) Simplification.

12. Who is living in the studio and offers to help Miller take care of his children following the breakup of his marriage?
(a) Walter Winslow.
(b) Wilson Winslow.
(c) Wilbur Robinson.
(d) Walter Matthews.

13. A brilliant young French-Canadian ponders his role in life in Part 2, "Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri," Chapter 9, quoting Joseph Delteil and Chesterton on who?
(a) Dickens.
(b) Shakespeare.
(c) Twain.
(d) Odets.

14. Where does Miller send Chama when he runs out of stories in an urban setting?
(a) Italy.
(b) Brazil.
(c) New Mexico.
(d) Paris.

15. A Dutch visitor upbraids Miller for clearing what instead of writing?
(a) A septic tank.
(b) A field of brush.
(c) A forest.
(d) His backyard.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what year does Miller arrive in Big Sur?

2. Who paints Miller's portrait as he is coming out of depression following his divorce?

3. Who gives outdoor piano concerts to ward off poverty at Big Sur?

4. What is the title of Part 2, "Peace and Solitude: a Potpourri," Chapter 3, and refers to bedtime stories that Miller tells his children?

5. In what year is Miller in Villa Seurat?

(see the answer keys)

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