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

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

3. What year did Tony Richardson die according to Didion in "Long Distance Runner"?
(a) 1991.
(b) 1989.
(c) 2000.
(d) 1999.

4. In "Why I Write," what does Didion say she "plays by ear" (44)?
(a) Piano.
(b) Guitar.
(c) Grammar.
(d) Saxophone.

5. In "Last Words," what is Hemingway said to have done to his letters after Ford Madox Ford told him to "write a letter thinking of how it would read to posterity"?
(a) He burned his letters.
(b) He rewrote all of his letters.
(c) He published his letters.
(d) He locked up all his letters.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Telling Stories," how many stories does Didion say she completed for English 106A?

2. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say the writer of a short story needs to have that the writer of a novel does not?

3. In "Long Distance Runner," where is Richardson filiming in 1989?

4. In "Telling Stories," what Hemingway short story does Didion mention as an example of a writer's "absolute control" (54)?

5. For what publication was Hemingway working when he would sometimes rewrite submissions for practice?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What examples from writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Didion's own work does she cite as examples of artist superstitions?

3. What does Didion say about the first paragraph of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms in "Last Words"?

4. 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?

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

6. 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?

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

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

9. In "Why I Write," why does Joan say she writes?

10. Who is Tony Richardson and how is he described in the two pictures Joan discusses at the start of "Long Distance Runner"?

(see the answer keys)

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