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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 which of the following does Rushdie note the Ramayana is adapted?

2. Which of the following does Rushdie posit may have connected Shakespeare to Cervantes?

3. To what literary device does Rushdie suggest García Márquez is prone?

4. As which of the following does Rushdie explain Heraclitus’s idea of daimon?

5. Which of the following authors does Rushdie note having read?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what way does Rushdie contrast the animal fables of “the Eastern canon” with those represented by Aesop?

2. For what reason does Rushdie report Scheherazade pled for her life to be spared by her husband?

3. What reason for enjoying Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” does Rushdie note?

4. Paraphrase Roth’s reported comment to Remnick about setting a novel in a therapist’s office?

5. What was Rushdie’s last assignment as a student journalist?

6. What does Heraclitus’s fragment 121 say?

7. Why does Rushdie assert that visitors to New York City feel they know it when they arrive there?

8. Why do the deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare occur on the same date but not the same day?

9. What is the central conceit of Now It Can Be Told?

10. To what does the “Lakshman rekha” refer?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Rushdie gain from disparaging the works of other writers? That is, what effect is created by his doing so, and how does it work to the advantage of the anthology?

Essay Topic 2

Sources attest to the presence of Languages of Truth on bestseller lists. Assuming that sales figures reflect popularity, what accounts for the popularity of the type of text? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Overall, what is the most important theme of Languages of Truth. What in the text indicates as much? How does it do so?

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