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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. Linda Wagner-Martin wrote a biography of Sylvia Plath. Upon what did her relationship with the Hughes family deteriorate in Part One: Chapter IV?
(a) Completion of the manuscript.
(b) The publishing of the book.
(c) Reviews of the book being published.
(d) Choosing a cover for the book.

2. What did Hughes claim Sylvia had discarded during the last years of her life in the first publication of The Journals of Sylvia Plath?
(a) Religion.
(b) Prejudices.
(c) Personal relationships.
(d) False selves.

3. In the second version of The Journals of Sylvia Plath, Hughes avoided blame for what?
(a) The destruction of Plath's journals.
(b) Incomplete editing.
(c) Plath's unhappiness.
(d) Plath's death.

4. Whose biography of Sylvia Plath did Olwyn Hughes laud?
(a) Janet Malcolm's.
(b) Anne Stevenson's.
(c) Ronald Hayman's.
(d) A. Alvarez's.

5. How many children did Sylvia Plath have?
(a) Zero.
(b) Two.
(c) One.
(d) Three.

Short Answer Questions

1. A. Alvarez noted that toward the end of her life, Sylvia's once reserved persona was replaced with an aggressive one, most apparent when she was doing what activity?

2. Ronald Hayman wrote in The Independent that whose biography was vindictive?

3. With whom was Ted Hughes having an affair at the time of Sylvia Plath's death?

4. Where did Janet Malcolm travel to meet with Anne Stevenson in Part Two: Chapter I?

5. When was Anne Stevenson born?

Short Essay Questions

1. What two friends of Sylvia perpetuated the negative image of Ted Hughes? How?

2. How did Janet Malcolm know Anne Stevenson in their youth? What was Malcolm's opinion of her?

3. What did critic Ronald Hayman write about Bitter Fame?

4. How did Sylvia's demeanor and image change from her youth to her death?

5. When were Ted and Sylvia separated? What did Sylvia reveal to Alvarez during that time?

6. What was the first official bad review of Bitter Fame? Who wrote it?

7. Aurelia Plath's intentions in having her daughter's letters published is implied to be in retaliation for what?

8. What was Anne Stevenson's response at a meeting of the University Women's Club in London where she was being taken to task for her portrayal of Sylvia in her book?

9. What is Plath's book The Bell Jar about? What was Sylvia's mother's reaction to the work?

10. What lecture did Malcolm read of Anne Stevenson's defense of her biography in Part Two: Chapter I?

(see the answer keys)

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