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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. What is one of the philosophers who has maintained that words inevitably distance us from the brute existence, according to Gardner in Chapter 1?
(a) Socrates.
(b) Kierkegaard.
(c) Nietzsche.
(d) Plato.

2. The two things that keep the common reader turning the pages, according to Gardner are story or what?
(a) Mood.
(b) Theme.
(c) Character.
(d) Argument.

3. Which title does Raymond Carver say is the only one he recalls of John Gardner's manuscripts in the Forward?
(a) The King's Indian.
(b) Nickel Mountain.
(c) Grendel.
(d) The Life and Times of Chaucer.

4. Who is the author of Death in Venice?
(a) Clifford Odets.
(b) Herman Melville.
(c) William Shakespeare.
(d) Thomas Mann.

5. Gardner writes in Chapter 1 that if one studies with whom, does he learn that Shakespeare is better than Mickey Spillane?
(a) Dr. Stanley Fish.
(b) Dr. Michael Mortenson.
(c) Dr. Martin Meyer.
(d) Dr. Andrew Dryd.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Who wrote Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy?

3. Who is one of the writers Gardner notes in Chapter 1 as having both a fine ear for language and also a fascination with the materials?

4. What author of Over the Edge does Gardner cite in Chapter 1?

5. What story of Robert Penn Warren's did Raymond Carver read in Gardner's class at Chico State College?

(see the answer key)

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