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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Commentary, Line 167: There was a time, etc. through Line 171: A great conspiracy.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who or what does John Shade claim to see in his near-death experience?
(a) His Wife.
(b) His daughter.
(c) A fountain.
(d) The Zemblan Mountains.

2. What are the two most important things in Shade's life?
(a) His poetry and his wife.
(b) His job as a professor and his wife.
(c) His wife and Charles Kinbote.
(d) His Zemblan heritage and his wife.

3. Which of the following best describes the pervading theme of Canto Four?
(a) John Shade's relationship with Charles Kinbote.
(b) John Shade's relationship with his family.
(c) John Shade's time in Zembla.
(d) John Shade's writing process.

4. Charles Kinbote thinks John Shade enjoyed more "creative freedom" during the composition of which Canto?
(a) Canto Four.
(b) Canto One.
(c) Canto Three.
(d) Canto Two.

5. How did King Alfin the Vague die?
(a) He was assassinated.
(b) In a plane crash.
(c) He had a stroke.
(d) He committed suicide.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the previous inhabitant of Charles Kinbote's house?

2. Charles Kinbote gave John Shade a detailed drawing of King Charles' castle; what does he want John Shade's wife to do with the picture?

3. Charles Kinbote thinks the reference to "that crystal land" in line 12 refers to what place?

4. What are the two ways to write according to Shade in Canto Three?

5. Of the following, which has been added to Shade's childhood home?

(see the answer key)

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