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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain," what work of Quain's is actually successful?

2. In "A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz (1829-1874)," what is the name of the fugitive Tadeo pursues?

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

4. In "The Zahir," where is the sister of the woman he loves?

5. In "Funes, His Memory," the powers of Funes can best be described as which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "House of Asterion," is there anything sympathetic about Asterion?

2. In "Averroes' Search," how is Borges' attempt to write of Averroes similar to Averroes own difficulties?

3. In "Emma Zunz," how does Emma exact revenge on Lowenthal for her father's death?

4. In "A Theologian in Death," what is Melancthon's doctrine and what are the implications of this doctrine?

5. In "Hakim The Masked Dyer of Merv," Hakim's sect abhor mirrors and copulation. What is the significance of this abhorrence?

6. In "The Aleph," what is the narrator's attitude toward Carlos Argentino?

7. In "The Other Death," how does Borges suggest that Pedro Damian could actually be both a hero and a coward?

8. In "The Garden of Forking Paths," why does Dr. Yu work for the Germans?

9. In "The Man on the Threshold," why do the people pretend that they do not know what happened to Glencairn when the investigator asks them?

10. What does "Story of the Warrior and the Captive Maiden" say about the nature of human identity?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many of the stories in "Collected Fictions" are detective stories. Think of "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," "The Garden of Forking Paths," "Death and the Compass," "Ibn-Hakam al-Bokhari, Murdered in His Labyrinth" as examples of the major ones. How are Borges' detective stories similar or different from standard detective stories? Are they nail-biting whodunits, or something else? Are they satires of detective fiction? Choose at least one of the above stories and use it to specifically illustrate your argument.

Essay Topic 2

Choose a story and analyze the narrative structure. How does the structure propel the action? How does it inform the meaning or themes of the story? "The Shape of the Sword," the story of the traitorous John Vincent Moon, is an excellent example for examining the structure. Feel free to use this story or choose your own. Remember to be as specific as you can.

Essay Topic 3

Pick one of the stories and describe the point of view. How does the point of view affect the meaning of the story? Is the narrator's stance ironic? Comic? Straightforward? Deceitful? Objective? Etc.

(see the answer keys)

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