View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the character with a picture in his pocket?

2. Why is "Leaning from the Steep Slope" unfinished?

3. How does the man feel when he realizes who his contact is?

4. Where does Ludmilla want the reader to meet her?

5. For what does the author chastise the reader?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the reader and Ludmilla agree upon in Chapter 4?

2. Describe the line between reader and publisher in the novel.

3. Describe Cimmeria.

4. Who or what leads the reader down the wrong path in Chapter 3?

5. Describe the reader's comments on the difference between reading and hearing somebody read aloud.

6. Who is Ermes Marana?

7. Describe the plot of the first book the reader has, titled If On a Winter's Night a Traveler.

8. In Chapter 5, what new type of book does Ludmilla claim to enjoy?

9. How does Calvino bring interactivity to the book?

10. Describe "Outside the Town of Malbork."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Choose one of the books named described in the novel and analyze it. What motivates the characters in this story? What role does diction play? What's more important - plot or characterization? To whose tastes does this book cater?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Marana and Flannery. How are these two characters similar and different? How do they have different but similar goals? How are both reflections of the author, Calvino?

Essay Topic 3

Cite at least three specific examples of imagery in the novel. What is the significance of imagery in a novel? What tone does imagery set for the novel?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 671 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample