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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Anton Chekhov.
(b) James Joyce.
(c) Charles Dickens.
(d) Stephen King.

2. 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."

3. Who developed the style of the "epiphany story" in The Dubliners?
(a) McKinley.
(b) Joyce.
(c) Beckett.
(d) Conrad.

4. What painter does Gardner remark in Chapter 1 never sold a painting in his life?
(a) Matisse.
(b) Monet.
(c) Picasso.
(d) Van Gogh.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Gardner notes in Chapter 1 that Mercutio's madness is fantastic and what?

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

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

4. Whose disguise in Jane Eyre does Gardner comment on as surprising in Chapter 1?

5. In what novel does Levin propose to Kitty, as cited in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

1. What hypothetical situation does Gardner uses as an example of plot in Chapter 1?

2. How does the young author learn technique through reading others?

3. What essential things must an aspiring author understand in order to pursue writing?

4. What does Gardner say of writers with "bad taste" in language in Chapter 1?

5. What does Gardner say of "recognizing the significant" in Chapter 1?

6. How does Gardner explain characterization and story through his hypothetical story in Chapter 1?

7. What does Gardner relate about the "author's character" in Chapter 1? How does he describe "special intelligence?"

8. What does Gardner remark of the author's sense of observation in Chapter 1?

9. What does Gardner write about showy language in Chapter 1?

10. In Chapter 1, what does Gardner say the most common question of the aspiring writer is to him? What is the response?

(see the answer keys)

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