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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Of what author does Gardner say his heroes are clown-heroes knocked around by the universe?
(a) Hemingway.
(b) James.
(c) Kafka.
(d) Odets.

2. Who wrote Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy?
(a) Ernest Hemingway.
(b) Theodore Dreiser.
(c) Raymond Carver.
(d) William Faulkner.

3. With what older colleague did Gardner publish an anthology of fiction at Chico College?
(a) David Wellesley.
(b) James Fenway.
(c) Lennis Dunlap.
(d) Michael Ewing.

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

5. In Chapter 1, Gardner writes, "Though there are exceptions, as a rule the good novelist does not worry primarily about ____ brilliance."
(a) Artistic.
(b) Creative.
(c) Linguistic.
(d) Auditory.

6. In what novel does Gardner note the rooftop scene as being one of surprise in Chapter 1?
(a) Nicholas Nickleby.
(b) Crime and Punishment.
(c) Seize the Day.
(d) Emma.

7. Gardner suggests the young writer get a first-rate freshman composition book such as An American Rhetoric by whom?
(a) W. W. Watt.
(b) Michael A. Morris.
(c) James A. Richards.
(d) Stuart Waterman.

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

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

10. What was Gardner's first wife's name?
(a) Sarah.
(b) Emily.
(c) Joan.
(d) Nora.

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

12. What author does Gardner say was known to arrive at a party and sit for ten minutes or more staring at guests and not answering when people addressed him in Chapter1?
(a) Moliere.
(b) James Joyce.
(c) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(d) Anthony Trollope.

13. In what novel does Levin propose to Kitty, as cited in Chapter 1?
(a) Nicholas Nickleby.
(b) Emma.
(c) Crime and Punishment.
(d) Anna Karenina.

14. Gardner claims he has been happy writing since the age of what?
(a) 8.
(b) 12.
(c) 6.
(d) 16.

15. What kind of intelligence does Gardner say is important to the writer in Chapter 1?
(a) Storyteller's.
(b) Philosophical.
(c) Mathematics.
(d) Psychological.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the author of All the King's Men?

2. Which philosopher maintained that nothing a writer writes means anything, "all the words are a lunatic blithering," since all language is by nature false and misleading?

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

4. What book was Gardner writing when he remembered the altered sense coming over him while in the last chapter?

5. Gardner states that in the works of Shakespeare, language always serves character and what?

(see the answer keys)

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