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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. What event starts the essay, "On Running After One's Hat?"

2. Who wrote "The Crack-Up"?

3. How did Virginia Woolf die?

4. Who wrote "This Tool Is Life?"

5. When was Junichiro Tanizaki born?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Junichiro Tanizaki's contribution to world literature? How has Tanizaki's writing style been characterized?

2. What is the subject of Krim's "For My Brothers and Sisters in the Failure Business"? What feelings does Krim express in the essay?

3. What two works of G. K. Chesterton are included in this volume? What are the subjects of these essays?

4. What kind of literature did Virginia Woolf write? What was a common focus that united her work?

5. What style is James Thurber known for? What was a common theme in Thurber's writing?

6. Describe Walter Benjamin's unfortunate end. How does his essay "Unpacking My Library" relate to this tragic end?

7. Under what circumstances are Lu Hsun's "This Tool is Life" and "Death" written? What are the subjects of these essays?

8. What is Ivan Turgenev's opinion of capital punishment? How did Turgenev believe servants should be treated?

9. What views is Henry David Thoreau well known for? How did he believe one should live one's life?

10. How does Seymour Krim's life compare to Mary McCarthy's? How did Krim's childhood impact his writing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

"Hashish in Marseilles" by Walter Benjamin and "Under the Influence" by Scott Russell Sanders both speak about substance abuse.

A) How does Benjamin's attitude about substance compare to Sanders'? How might biographical details help to inform us about the formulation of these attitudes?

B) What does each man take away from the substance abuse they have experienced? What might their message for the reader be?

Essay Topic 2

Montaigne provides a number of views and personal opinions in the essays selected for the book.

A) What is Montaigne's view of human nature in general? Cite quotations from "Of Books" to support your assertion.

B) What is Montaigne's view of education? Cite quotations from "Of Books" and "On Some Verses of Virgil" to support your assertion.

C) What is Montaigne's view of abnormality, according to "Of a Monstrous Child"?

Essay Topic 3

E. B. White in "Once More to the Lake" and Hubert Butler in "Beside the Nore" both talk about seaside experiences.

A) What is each man's view of nature, as revealed in the essays?

B) What is particular about being close to water that resonates with each author?

C) How does a sense of nostalgia pervade and affect each piece? How does "now" differ from "then?"

(see the answer keys)

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