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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion attribute to why she got a B in English 106A?
2. 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?
3. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say the writer of a short story needs to have that the writer of a novel does not?
4. In "Some Women," what writer does Didion say is quoted as saying that talking about his novel was bad luck?
5. In "Long Distance Runner," where is Richardson filiming in 1989?
Short Essay Questions
1. Describe the scene from "Long Distance Runner" when Didion and her husband arrive at St. Tropez to pick up their daughter.
2. In "Some Women," what does Didion say about what artists do and do not like to talk about with regard to their art?
3. Where did Didion attend photoshoots in her story "Some Women," and what does she say she noticed about the most successful shoots?
4. What does Didion say about the first paragraph of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms 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 Didion say about the Milton class she had to take in order to graduate from Berkeley?
7. In "Telling Stories," what class did Joan discuss taking as a junior at Berkeley and how did she feel in that class?
8. What brief moment at the Riviera Casino in Las Vegas worked into her novel Play it as it Lays?
9. Why does Joan say she has "no talent" (54) for writing short fiction in "Telling Stories"?
10. In "Telling Stories," what grade does Joan say she received in 106A, and why does she think she got that grade?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay analyzing how Joan Didion's personal bias might influence her writing. Use the following stories as reference: "Everywoman.com," "Last Words," and "Long Distance Runner."
Essay Topic 2
Write a detailed analysis of Didion's views of the people in "Last Words" who published Hemingway's works after his death, and Oppenheimer from "Everywoman.com" who wrote a biography of Martha Stewart.
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay about the author of Let Me Tell You What I Mean. Who is she? What else has she written? How is Let Me Tell You What I Mean similar or different from her previous works?
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This section contains 923 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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