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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. Where had John Gardner taught before Chico State College?
(a) New York University.
(b) DePaul University.
(c) Oberlin College.
(d) University of Ohio.

2. What author does Gardner say has a deep misanthropic mistrust in Chapter 1?
(a) Steinbeck.
(b) Dickens.
(c) Flaubert.
(d) Bedlow.

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

4. Who is the author of Death in Venice?
(a) Clifford Odets.
(b) William Shakespeare.
(c) Herman Melville.
(d) Thomas Mann.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote Bartelby the Scrivener?

2. Which author does Gardner say has a style at parties to take to the floor at any cost, telling funny stories?

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

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

5. Gardner states that the effective writer leads the reader into a continuous what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Gardner assert of the author learning character through television in Chapter 1?

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

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

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

7. Where did Gardner learn his method of writing?

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

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

10. What does Gardner suggest as ways to understand the psychology of characters unlike themselves?

(see the answer keys)

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