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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In "The Improbable Impostor Tom Castro," what causes Tom's fake identity scheme to fall apart?
(a) The real person, whom Tom was impersonating, returns.
(b) Ebenezer Bogle runs out of ideas for perpetuating the fraud.
(c) At the trial, a saavy lawyer produces papers demonstrating Tom can't be who he says he is.
(d) Ebenezer Bogle's death.

2. What does the sorcerer discover at the end of "The Circular Ruins"?
(a) He is a jaguar.
(b) He has been sleeping too much.
(c) That he himself is a dream.
(d) Dreams aren't that important.

3. In "Monk Eastman, Purveyor of Iniquities," what does Eastman do to become a bouncer?
(a) Beats up two men.
(b) Arm wrestles the owner.
(c) Shows his marksmanship on a target.
(d) Wins a rodeo.

4. In "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim," what does the law student think he has done that causes him to live in exile with India's most wretched populace?
(a) Killed a Hindu.
(b) Killed a Muslim.
(c) Committed blasphemy.
(d) Committed adultery.

5. In "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim," who or what is Al-Mu'tasim supposed to be?
(a) A sect of Islam.
(b) A holy man.
(c) An magnificent oasis.
(d) An obscure language.

6. In "The Dead Man," why does Otalora first have to leave Argentina?
(a) He has killed a man.
(b) He has slept with a woman whose husband pursues him.
(c) He seeks a cure for a strange disease.
(d) He owes back taxes.

7. In "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," who first finds an article about Uqbar?
(a) Herbert Ashe.
(b) Bioy Casares.
(c) The narrator.
(d) Tlon.

8. Which of the following best describes "Ibn-Hakam-Al Bokhari, Murdered in his Labyrinth"?
(a) It is intendend as a precise moral lesson, with unambiguous instruction.
(b) It is realistic.
(c) It is a fantasy story that requires a suspension of disbelief.
(d) It is a comedy meant to amuse children.

9. In "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain," Quain's work can best be described as which of the following?
(a) Coded to teach medical students how to perform surgery.
(b) Straightforward.
(c) Bizarrely structured, and based on outrageous and esoteric themes.
(d) Seemingly pornographic, but with a religious message embedded within.

10. In "Averroes' Search," what happens to Averroes at the end?
(a) He looks into a mirror and disappears.
(b) He condemns Aristotle as a "savage."
(c) He converts to Judaism.
(d) He drowns.

11. In "A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829-1874)," what happens to Tadeo's attitude toward the fugitive he pursues?
(a) His hatred of the man grows, until he not only wants the man dead, he wants all his associates dead.
(b) He grows bored of the search and doesn't care one way or the other if the man escapes.
(c) He doggedly pursues him, and wants nothing else in life, but to catch the man.
(d) His desire to catch the man turns to empathy, and he wants to help the man.

12. In "Funes, His Memory," how is Funes crippled?
(a) He falls from a roof.
(b) A horseback riding injury.
(c) He is shot.
(d) A bookcase of heavy books topples on him.

13. In "Story of the Two Dreamers," what does the man's dream tell him?
(a) He will marry a princess.
(b) He will die in battle.
(c) He will become a priest who doesn't believe in God.
(d) He will make money in Persia.

14. In "The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell," what city does Lazarus plan to overtake?
(a) New Orleans.
(b) Galveston.
(c) Miami.
(d) Baton Rouge.

15. In "Man on the Pink Corner," what does the Yardmaster challenge Rosendo to?
(a) A duel with pistols.
(b) A wrestling match.
(c) A foot race.
(d) A knife fight.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "The Library of Babel," what is the central shape that the library is based upon?"

2. In "The Writing of God," what happens to Tzinacan?

3. In "Averroes' Search," what concept or concepts can Averroes not comprehend?

4. In "The Shape of the Sword," John Vincent Moon is a traitor to what ideology?

5. In "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain," how does Quain react when he does have some artistic success?

(see the answer keys)

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