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

2. What does Gardner claim is helpful, if it can be kept in partial control, to keep the novelist driven?
(a) A tendency to drink.
(b) A need for love.
(c) A psychological wound.
(d) A tendency to prove himself.

3. Gardner states that the effective writer leads the reader into a continuous what?
(a) Trance.
(b) Story line.
(c) Dream.
(d) Characterization.

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

5. What magazine does Gardner suggest for good literary work in Chapter 1?
(a) The New Yorker.
(b) The Reader's Digest.
(c) The London Book Review.
(d) The Londoner.

Short Answer Questions

1. What year did Raymond Carver move to Chico, California?

2. What painter does Gardner remark in Chapter 1 never sold a painting in his life?

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

4. Who developed the style of the "epiphany story" in The Dubliners?

5. In what novel does Gardner note the rooftop scene as being one of surprise in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Gardner remark about theme in Chapter 1?

4. What is the "moronic setup" that Gardner relates in Chapter 1?

5. What is the second indicator of talent that Gardner discusses in Chapter 1? What author does he cite in this?

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

7. How does Gardner describe traditional plot, victim stories, and "epiphany stories?"

8. What authors does Gardner use to illustrate language and character in Chapter 1?

9. Where did Gardner learn his method of writing?

10. What does Gardner write of Nabokov in Chapter 1?

(see the answer keys)

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