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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. Which of the following does Rushdie cite in protest of a proposed UK law that would have forbidden criticizing religion?

2. On what date is “Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011)” written?

3. Which essay does Rushdie note was removed from the Delhi University curriculum?

4. From which of the following does Rushdie note All in the Family is adapted?

5. Who was *president* of PEN America in 2004?

Short Essay Questions

1. What three countries does Rushdie comment that he has “spent [his] life caring about” (211)?

2. Why does Rushdie note admiring Susan Orlean in regards to Adaptation?

3. What final gift does Rushdie note being able to offer Hitchens?

4. How does Rushdie propose readers fight against censorship and artistic repression?

5. Paraphrase the remark by EB White about writing to children that Rushdie reports.

6. What choice does Rushdie note is required to produce Othello?

7. How does Rushdie differentiate a “historical” fact from a “basic” fact?

8. What does Rushdie note caused the characters drawn from his biography to come alive?

9. Why does Rushdie argue that the Hinduism of the BJP is not true Hinduism?

10. To what does Rushdie ascribe the closeness of his friendship with Christopher Hitchens?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

To what other writer’s work in your experience does Rushdie’s seem most similar? What makes the writers similar? What differentiates them? Overall, which do you regard as doing better at the craft of writing, and why?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Readerly attention focuses on the following passage: “I believe that the books and stories we fall in love with make us who we are, or, not to claim too much, that the act of falling in love with a book or story changes us in some way, and the beloved tale becomes a part of our picture of the world, a part of the way in which we understand things and make judgements and choices in our daily lives” (3). Does the passage bear out? What in the anthology and in your experience suggests as much? How does it do so?

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This section contains 650 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample