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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is F. Scott Fitzgerald quoted as calling Hemingway in a letter to Maxwell Perkins in "Last Words"?
(a) A rising talent.
(b) An okay writer.
(c) A real hack.
(d) The real thing.

2. What is something Didion felt her classmates in English 106A had that she did not in "Telling Stories"?
(a) Humor.
(b) Wealth.
(c) Friends.
(d) Experience.

3. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say many publications gave as a reason for not publishing "When Did Music Come This Way"?
(a) The flat characters.
(b) Its lack of plot.
(c) Its depressive nature.
(d) Its poor structure.

4. In "Long Distance Runner," who did Richardson take to France when Didion and her husband were unable to join him?
(a) Didion's brother.
(b) Their daughter.
(c) He went alone.
(d) His daughters.

5. What is the name of the female character in A Book of Common Prayer which Didion discusses in "Why I Write" ?
(a) Charly Dugan.
(b) Emily Dickens.
(c) Lily Davis.
(d) Charlotte Douglass.

6. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say she learned to do in writing "When Did Music Come This Way"?
(a) Use imagery.
(b) Write with control.
(c) Write in third person.
(d) Write in first person.

7. What was Didion suffering from which became one of the images used in her novel A Book of Common Prayer?
(a) Paratyphoid.
(b) Norovirus.
(c) Food poisoning.
(d) Flu.

8. Where is Didion working at the start of "Some Women"?
(a) Vogue.
(b) Mademoiselle.
(c) Lady's Home Journal.
(d) Cosmopolitan.

9. For what publication was Hemingway working when he would sometimes rewrite submissions for practice?
(a) Transatlantic Review.
(b) The Atlantic Monthly.
(c) The New Yorker.
(d) Vogue.

10. In "Long Distance Runner," where is Richardson filiming in 1989?
(a) Spain.
(b) New Zealand.
(c) France.
(d) America.

11. What did Tony Richardson begin doing years before his death for "something to do" between film shoots?
(a) Painting.
(b) Writing a collection of short stories.
(c) Working on a TV script.
(d) Writing a memoir.

12. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say the writer of a short story needs to have that the writer of a novel does not?
(a) A structured outline.
(b) A clear idea of what her intentions are.
(c) Time to write.
(d) A robust character.

13. What does Didion say she tried very hard to do while a student at Berkeley in "Why I Write"?
(a) Think in abstracts.
(b) Think more realistically.
(c) Think like her professors.
(d) Think clearly.

14. In "Telling Stories," what novel does Didion say developed from her notes that began about a man and woman in New York?
(a) Run River.
(b) The Sacramento River.
(c) A River Runs Through it.
(d) A Book of Common Prayer.

15. In "Why I Write," Didion says that the image that played into her story the most in Book of Common Prayer came from when she was at an airport in which country?
(a) Colombia.
(b) Panama.
(c) Portugal.
(d) Sweden.

Short Answer Questions

1. From whom does Didion say she stole the title "Why I Write"?

2. What is one of the images Didion says many people have seen of Hemingway?

3. In "Long Distance Runner," what argument does Didion cite when discussing how Richardson liked to be contrary?

4. In "Telling Stories," what short story does Didion discuss as an example of her lack of control in writing?

5. What is English 106A, the course Didion discusses in "Telling Stories"?

(see the answer keys)

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