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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. Based on Chapter 14, "The Universe of Ideas/Ideas of the Universe," what would Foster call a journalist writing a general survey of the field of string theory?

2. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," how does Foster apply the idea of "free indirect speech" to New Journalism?

3. In Chapter 12, "Life from the Inside," why does Foster think Ambrose chose Merriwether Lewis's perspective for his history Undaunted Courage?

4. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," Foster says that Fire and Fury was "incendiary" (189). He is comparing the book to what?

5. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," Foster says that the chief aim of Fire and Fury is to demonstrate what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 11, "Life from the Inside," why does Foster spend time describing the contents of Cardinal Newman's autobiography?

2. In Chapter 12, "That Is So Last Year," what change in "fashion" does Foster say that the publishing of history has followed in the past decades?

3. In Chapter 15, "Reading Internet Sources," what does Foster say is problematic about the internet and web?

4. In Chapter 9, "Living the News," what two main types of subjective nonfiction does Foster define, and what four categories does he break these main types into?

5. Explain why, in Chapter 11, "Life from the Inside," Foster says that the narrators of nonfiction can be just as unreliable as the narrators of fiction.

6. In Chapter 13, "On the Stump," what concern does Foster say that other journalists have about Wolff's work?

7. In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," what does Foster list as the three criteria of Ezra Pound's criticism?

8. In "Interrogating the Text," where does Foster suggest that readers focus their interrogative effort, and why?

9. In Chapter 12, "That Is So Last Year," what difference does Foster explain between primary and secondary sources?

10. In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," why does Foster say that the process newspapers follow to assure balanced treatment in opinion pieces creates a false dichotomy?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Chapter 2, "The Ecology of the Nonfiction Biosphere," Foster proposes that newspapers write the "first draft" of history, magazines write the "second draft," and history books write the "final draft." Argue for or against this claim--or accept it with qualifications.

Essay Topic 2

Based on the language and tone of Foster's book, who is his imagined audience? Is this audience consistent throughout the book? Give specific textual examples as you analyze how Foster's language and tone reveal the presumed audience for this book.

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 10, "From the Inside Out," Foster argues that the essay began with the Enlightenment. Many of the works that he cites were called "treatises" by their authors, however. Look up the similarities and differences between an "essay" and a "treatise." Then look up the writings of Ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle. Write an argument of definition in which you take a stand about whether the essay and the treatise are the same or different types of writing; in your essay, take a stand about when the "essay" becomes a distinct type of writing.

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