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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 note is a friend of his?

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

3. In what year does Rushdie first encounter Muhammad Ali?

4. In what year does Saligia first appear in writing?

5. With what did China charge Ai Weiwei?

Short Essay Questions

1. Paraphrase the question Rushdie asks Saul Bellow at PEN America in 1986?

2. For what reason was Sunflower Seeds cordoned off from the public?

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

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

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

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

7. What does Rushdie call “the final victory of the censor” (228)?

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

9. How does Rushdie define adaptation?

10. In what does Rushdie situate the origin of auteur theory?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What does Rushdie gain from commending 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

Rushdie is noted mostly as an author of fiction. Does his collection of essays suggest his fiction will be worthwhile for you to read? Why or why not? How or how not?

Essay Topic 3

It might be argued that the essays, taken together, comment about what, for Rushdie, is and is not good writing. What vision of good writing can be taken from the text, what in the text supports that vision, and how does it do so?

(see the answer keys)

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