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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 1, The Writer's Nature, Pages 34-72.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Of which writer does Gardner say, "the brilliant language with which he describes a minor character cannot help but suggest that the words he chooses are more important to him than the token secretary behind the desk"?
(a) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(b) John Updike.
(c) Dylan Thomas.
(d) William Faulkner.

2. To whose poetry and prose had Gardner made allusions to in the novel Grendel?
(a) Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
(b) William Blake.
(c) Lord Byron.
(d) Percy Shelley.

3. Gardner writes in Chapter 1 that when the central character is a victim there is no what?
(a) Suspense.
(b) Empathy.
(c) Action.
(d) Terror.

4. What does Gardner claim is helpful, if it can be kept in partial control, to keep the novelist driven?
(a) A psychological wound.
(b) A tendency to prove himself.
(c) A tendency to drink.
(d) A need for love.

5. What name does Gardner assign to the teenage daughter whose unknown father moves next door in Chapter 1?
(a) Wanda.
(b) Sarah.
(c) Michelle.
(d) Laura.

Short Answer Questions

1. With what older colleague did Gardner publish an anthology of fiction at Chico College?

2. What masterpiece of James Joyce does Gardner suggest typing out for language growth in Chapter 1?

3. Who is the author of Death in Venice?

4. Which title does Raymond Carver say is the only one he recalls of John Gardner's manuscripts in the Forward?

5. Who is the author of Piers Plowman?

(see the answer key)

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