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

2. How does Didion describe Richardson when in the act of filming a movie?
(a) Deliriously engaged.
(b) Distant.
(c) Hopelessly disorganized.
(d) Serious.

3. In "Long Distance Runner," what argument does Didion cite when discussing how Richardson liked to be contrary?
(a) That all silent films should be overdubbed.
(b) That all foreign films should be made in English.
(c) That all black and white films should be colorized.
(d) That all of his films should be burned.

4. In "Some Women," Didion says that Mapplethorpe's photograph always exhibit a tension between what?
(a) Right and wrong.
(b) Good and bad.
(c) Masculine and feminine.
(d) Light and dark.

5. In "Telling Stories," what Hemingway short story does Didion mention as an example of a writer's "absolute control" (54)?
(a) "The Killers."
(b) "Snows of Kilimanjaro."
(c) "A Clean Well-Lighted Place."
(d) "Hills Like White Elephants."

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Telling Stories," what publication does Didion work for right after college?

2. What mandatory class did Didion need to take at Berkeley before she could graduate?

3. What tennis player's behavior did Richardson say was "glorious" accordion to Didion in "Long Distance Runner"?

4. What did Hemingway undergo in February 1961 according to Didion in "Last Words"?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. In "Telling Stories," what grade does Joan say she received in 106A, and why does she think she got that grade?

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

3. 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?

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

5. What did Didion first think Run River was a story about, and what did it become?

6. In "Telling Stories," how does Joan describe what she learned about writing while working at Vogue?

7. Describe the scene from "Long Distance Runner" when Didion and her husband arrive at St. Tropez to pick up their daughter.

8. How does Didion describe the public image and perception of Hemingway in "Last Words"?

9. What does Didion say about Yoko Ono in "Some Women"?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

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