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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 "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.

2. In "Telling Stories," what publication does Didion work for right after college?
(a) The New Yorker.
(b) Ms.
(c) Vogue.
(d) The Washington post.

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

4. Who wrote the script for "Hills Like White Elephants" discussed in "Long Distance Runner"?
(a) Jack Nicholson and Richardson.
(b) Didion and her husband.
(c) Didion and Richardson.
(d) Didion's husband and Tony Richardson.

5. 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 clearly.
(d) Think like her professors.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. In "Telling Stories," how many places had Didion lived by the time she took English 106A?

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

5. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion attribute to why she got a B in English 106A?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What example does Didion cite as proof that Hemingway did not want his letters to be published after his death in "Last Words"?

5. 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?

6. 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?

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

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

9. In "Telling Stories," what class did Joan discuss taking as a junior at Berkeley and how did she feel in that class?

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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