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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In "Why I Write," Didion says she writes to understand what sorts of things?
(a) Other people's emotions.
(b) Her fears and desires.
(c) The universe.
(d) Humanity.

3. In "Why I Write," Didion refers to writing as "the tactic of a secret" what?
(a) Genius.
(b) Snob.
(c) Bully.
(d) Introvert.

4. What did Mary Hemingway allow Carlos Baker to do in his book published after Hemingway's death?
(a) Rewrite his most famous novels.
(b) Publish his unedited manuscript.
(c) Publish 600 of his letters.
(d) Write disparagingly of Hemingway.

5. Who is the star of the Tony Richardson film Didion cites at the start of "Long Distance Runner"?
(a) Robert DeNiro.
(b) Arnold Schwarzenegger.
(c) Jack Nicholson.
(d) Al Pacino.

6. In "Some Women," what does Robert Mapplethorpe say is present in the way he arranges things for his photo shoots?
(a) His catholic upbringing.
(b) His laid back attitude.
(c) His obsessive nature.
(d) His controlling parents.

7. What did Hemingway undergo in February 1961 according to Didion in "Last Words"?
(a) Psychotherapy.
(b) A heart transplant.
(c) Chemotherapy.
(d) Shock treatment.

8. In "Last Words," who is Hemingway said to have written telling him to give up the idea of writing a book on him because he did not wish to cooperate?
(a) Charles A. Fenton.
(b) Charles S Dutton.
(c) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(d) George Orwell.

9. What is English 106A, the course Didion discusses in "Telling Stories"?
(a) A writer's workshop.
(b) A poetry workshop.
(c) A British Lit class.
(d) An American literature class.

10. In "Long Distance Runner," what word does Didion say Richardson often used when describing work?
(a) Impossible.
(b) Magic.
(c) Serene.
(d) Holy.

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

12. Who does Didion say is the only woman Mapplethorpe photographed who came across as being "entirely in charge of herself" (62)?
(a) Yoko Ono.
(b) Patti Smith.
(c) Grace Jones.
(d) Joan Didion.

13. In "Some Women," what writer does Didion say is quoted as saying that talking about his novel was bad luck?
(a) Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
(b) Joseph Conrad.
(c) Ernest Hemingway.
(d) George Orwell.

14. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say compelled her to try writing short stories again after 10 years?
(a) The fear she would not write another novel.
(b) Her boredom with long prose.
(c) Her interest in portraying a window into someone's world.
(d) A lack of ideas.

15. Didion says that one of the pictures in her mind when she began her novel Play it as It Lays came from an incident in what city?
(a) Los Angeles.
(b) Sacramento.
(c) Las Vegas.
(d) New York.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In "Telling Stories," what novel does Didion say developed from her notes that began about a man and woman in New York?

3. Who wrote the script for "Hills Like White Elephants" discussed in "Long Distance Runner"?

4. What wife of Hemingway's is mentioned at the start of "Last Words"?

5. What did Hemingway instruct his executors to do in a letter written a few years before his death?

(see the answer keys)

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