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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. What does Gardner compare to the floors and structural supports in a fine old mansion in Chapter 1?
(a) Plot.
(b) Action.
(c) Character.
(d) Theme.

2. Which author does Gardner state had "gazelle eyes" which dominated the room in Chapter 1?
(a) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(b) Joyce Carol Oates.
(c) Anthony Trollope.
(d) James Joyce.

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

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

5. Who wrote Finnegan's Wake?
(a) Joyce.
(b) Flaubert.
(c) Robbe-Grillet.
(d) Nabokov.

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

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

4. Gardner compares Melville's Moby Dick with what in Chapter 1?

5. What magazine does Gardner suggest for good literary work in Chapter 1?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Who does Gardner refer to as the "best" novelists in Chapter 1? What lesson does he cite of them?

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

4. How does Gardner define "setting," "plot," and "theme" in Chapter 1?

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

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

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

8. Where did Gardner learn his method of writing?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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