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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do Seymour Krim and Mary McCarthy have in common?
(a) They were married to each other.
(b) Both espoused Communist views.
(c) Both lost their parents at a young age.
(d) They both have a fascination with food.

2. When was Junichiro Tanizaki born?
(a) 1886 A.D.
(b) 30 B.C.
(c) 1052 A.D.
(d) 342 A.D.

3. Which famous author is mentioned in the essay "Once a Tramp, Always...?"
(a) Jonathan Swift.
(b) Chaucer.
(c) Mark Twain.
(d) Toni Morrison.

4. What is the author's opinion of public executions in "The Execution of Tropmann?"
(a) Public executions are thrilling.
(b) Public executions are tools of the class system.
(c) Public executions should be ended.
(d) Public executions are necessary for law and order.

5. What nickname is given to Max Beerbohm?
(a) The Incomparable Max.
(b) The Late Great Captain Max.
(c) Max Beerfest.
(d) Maximum Writer.

6. What is unusual about the essay "Once a Tramp, Always...?"
(a) It contains lewd illustrations.
(b) It is written half in Spanish and half in English.
(c) It contains a coded message if deciphered.
(d) It includes food recipes.

7. What might best describe the attitude of the author in "Such, Such Were the Joys..."?
(a) Angry and pessimistic.
(b) Depressed and suicidal.
(c) Thoughtful and optimistic.
(d) Joyous and spontaneous.

8. What event starts the essay, "On Running After One's Hat?"
(a) A church service.
(b) A birth.
(c) A town flood.
(d) A hanging.

9. What is a frequent subject of Lu Hsun's work?
(a) The beauty of the natural world.
(b) The class system.
(c) Poverty and the struggle that results from it.
(d) Ships and sailing.

10. What did George Orwell renounce, along with his former life?
(a) The class system.
(b) The Catholic church.
(c) The English legal system.
(d) Poetry.

11. Who wrote "Such, Such Were the Joys..."?
(a) Richard Steele.
(b) Sei Shonagon.
(c) George Orwell.
(d) William Hazlitt.

12. James Thurber is said to have inspired what, in American essay prose?
(a) Discussion of race issues.
(b) Seriousness.
(c) Pregnant pauses.
(d) Nonsense.

13. Who wrote "Going Out for a Walk?"
(a) Max Beerbohm.
(b) Ou-Yank Hsiu.
(c) G. K. Chesterton.
(d) Seneca.

14. Who wrote "The Crack-Up"?
(a) E. B. White.
(b) Ou-Yank Hsiu.
(c) Edward Hoagland.
(d) F. Scott Fitzgerald.

15. Who wrote "An Apology for Idlers?"
(a) George Orwell.
(b) Plutarch.
(c) Robert Louis Stevenson.
(d) Maria Edgeworth.

Short Answer Questions

1. How did Virginia Woolf die?

2. When was Walter Benjamin Born?

3. What death did M.F.K. Fisher have to endure that she writes about?

4. Who wrote "The Execution of Tropmann?"

5. Who wrote "Leaving the Movie Theater?"

(see the answer keys)

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