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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What story of Robert Penn Warren's did Raymond Carver read in Gardner's class at Chico State College?
(a) "To Have and Have Not."
(b) "Ulysses."
(c) "Blackberry Winter."
(d) "Last of the Mohicans."

2. What does Gardner state in Chapter 1 that we call a writer who cares more for language than the other elements of fiction?
(a) Stylized.
(b) Bad.
(c) Tedious.
(d) Mannered.

3. What does Gardner say "breeds success" in Chapter 1?
(a) Persistence.
(b) Connections.
(c) Dedication.
(d) Success.

4. In Chapter 1, Gardner writes that one is unable to write for everyone, "try to win the audience both of Saul Bellow and" whom?
(a) Stephen King.
(b) James Joyce.
(c) Anton Chekhov.
(d) Charles Dickens.

5. What did Garner always wear, according to Raymond Carver in the Forward?
(a) A gray fedora.
(b) A black suit.
(c) A brown suit.
(d) A gray suit.

Short Answer Questions

1. Of whose writing does Gardner say that no reader can doubt the impulse to capture real life, "the special quality of country-Welsh craziness"?

2. What is the first thing that Gardner states a writer needs to have in Chapter 1?

3. 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"?

4. Where had John Gardner taught before Chico State College?

5. 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?

(see the answer key)

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