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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did Hemingway instruct his executors to do in a letter written a few years before his death?
(a) Never to publish or agree to publish his letters.
(b) Edit his letters before publication.
(c) Leave all proceeds from publication to his family.
(d) Complete any unfinished novels for publication.

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

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

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

5. 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) Time to write.
(b) A structured outline.
(c) A robust character.
(d) A clear idea of what her intentions are.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Some Women," what word is Mapplethorpe said to dislike regarding his art?

2. In "Some Women," Didion says that Mapplethorpe's photograph always exhibit a tension between what?

3. In "Long Distance Runner," what does Didion think is one of the reasons for Richardson's behavior?

4. Which Hemingway novel is quoted at the start of "Last Words"?

5. In "Why I Write," Didion refers to writing as "the tactic of a secret" what?

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Some Women," what does Didion say about what artists do and do not like to talk about with regard to their art?

2. What does Didion say about the Milton class she had to take in order to graduate from Berkeley?

3. What character in A Book of Common Prayer developed from an image of the Panama airport at 6 a.m. that stayed in Joan's mind?

4. Why does Joan say she has "no talent" (54) for writing short fiction in "Telling Stories"?

5. What does Didion say about the way she thinks, or does not think, at the start of "Why I Write"?

6. In "Last Words," what did Carlos Baker say with regard to why he thought it important to publish Hemingway's letters?

7. What does Didion say about the title for her talk "Why I Write" at the start? From whom did she steal the title and what did she like about it?

8. What does Joan say she learned to do when writing "When Did Music Come This Way," and what did that story allow her to do after it was complete?

9. What does Didion say of Richardson's often contrary behavior?

10. What brief moment at the Riviera Casino in Las Vegas worked into her novel Play it as it Lays?

(see the answer keys)

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