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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. Which was NOT one of Mr. Besant's general laws of fiction?
(a) Stories should have a moral purpose.
(b) Characters must be lifelike.
(c) The author should write from experience.
(d) The story should be psychologically true if not literally true.

2. What does Dencombe feel about his future?
(a) He is apprehensive about his savings holding out.
(b) He expects to begin over again.
(c) He looks forward to critical appreciation for the book he is working on now.
(d) He is depressed about his narrowing prospects.

3. Where does Spencer Brydon return to at the beginning of 'Jolly Corner'?
(a) New York.
(b) Paris.
(c) London.
(d) Venice.

4. What quality does a premise have to have in order to be suitable for a novel, in James' opinion?
(a) It has to prove a moral or teach a lesson.
(b) It has to make new insights into the nature of human consciousness.
(c) It has to redefine the forms of all novels that came before it.
(d) It has to be rich with possibilities.

5. What was terrible about the event John Marcher waited for?
(a) It would have consisted of a great love if it had happened.
(b) It would have broken him if it had happened.
(c) It had already happened, and it had already prevented great wealth for him.
(d) It consisted of nothing happening to him.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does James say a damsel in a small village can write about, if she is someone on whom nothing is lost?

2. How does James describe the Countess?

3. What does Eve Sedgwick suggest was John Marcher's real secret?

4. What happens to Dencombe before he can tell Dr. Hugh that he is a writer?

5. How does James characterize the neighborhood where the telegraph office is located?

Short Essay Questions

1. What did James study before he took to writing, and how did this influence his writing?

2. What is the significance of the title of this story?

3. What is Marcher's realization at the end of 'The Beast in the Jungle'?

4. Describe the relationship between Marcher and Bartram.

5. How does Spencer Brydon react to the changes that took place in New York over the last 33 years?

6. What does Dencombe realize in the end of 'The Middle Years'?

7. Describe the meeting between Dencombe and Dr. Hugh.

8. How does James address the superstition that fiction is diabolical?

9. Describe Dencombe's feelings about his own work.

10. What happens in the affair between Lady Bradeen and Captain Everard?

(see the answer keys)

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