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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 the first thing that Gardner states a writer needs to have in Chapter 1?
(a) Empathy.
(b) Wisdom.
(c) Intelligence.
(d) Verbal sensitivity.

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

3. What book was Gardner writing when he remembered the altered sense coming over him while in the last chapter?
(a) Grendel.
(b) The Resurrection.
(c) October Light.
(d) Nickel Mountain.

4. Gardner notes in Chapter 1 that all writing requires some measure of a ____ state.
(a) Fearful.
(b) Trance.
(c) Confident.
(d) Brave.

5. Which author does Gardner say has a style at parties to take to the floor at any cost, telling funny stories?
(a) Bernard Malamud.
(b) Truman Capote.
(c) Joyce Carol Oates.
(d) Stanley Elkin.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Gardner state in Chapter 1 that we call a writer who cares more for language than the other elements of fiction?

3. What does Gardner say that good fiction starts off in the reader's head?

4. What word does Gardner use to mean a phrase is worn out and overused?

5. Where did Raymond Carver move to Chico, California from?

(see the answer key)

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