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

2. In "Telling Stories," how many stories does Didion say she had to write in her English 106A class
(a) 12.
(b) 15.
(c) 2.
(d) 5.

3. What is F. Scott Fitzgerald quoted as calling Hemingway in a letter to Maxwell Perkins in "Last Words"?
(a) A rising talent.
(b) The real thing.
(c) An okay writer.
(d) A real hack.

4. Where did Hemingway shoot himself in 1961?
(a) Havana.
(b) Ketchum, Idaho.
(c) Africa.
(d) Key West.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. 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"?

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

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

4. What is something Didion felt her classmates in English 106A had that she did not in "Telling Stories"?

5. Who is the star of the Tony Richardson film Didion cites at the start of "Long Distance Runner"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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