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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Spencer Brydon return to at the beginning of 'Jolly Corner'?

2. How does the telegraph operator help Lady Bradeen and Captain Everard?

3. What is clear to the reader and to Captain Everard, but not to the main character?

4. How does James describe the Countess?

5. What is Dr. Hugh's reaction to Dencombe's book?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does James address the formal rules prescribed for fiction?

2. Where had John Marcher and May Bartram met previously, and what had happened then?

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

4. Who is the main character of 'In the Cage,' and what is he dilemma?

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

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

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

8. What is the irony in the secret Marcher has been keeping all these years?

9. What is the difference between the doctor's relationship with Dencombe and his relationship with the Countess?

10. What part does the telegraph operator play in the affair between Lady Bradeen and Captain Everard?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

We always have to wonder whether writers in stories represent the author himself. How can we interpret James' views about creativity based on what he says about the characters who are creative in his stories? Do James' characters advance a coherent theory of creativity and its importance in a culture?

Essay Topic 2

What are the rules that govern James' storytelling? What can you surmise from his essays and stories? Do his stories and his essays agree?

Essay Topic 3

Write an evaluation of 'The Tales of Henry James.' What is this book's place in our culture? What are its uses? Who is its audience? What are its limitations?

(see the answer keys)

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