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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 10-14.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Mencken, what kind of books did Theodore Dreiser produce?
(a) Wheezing, moralizing diatribes.
(b) Weighty, substantial tomes that one must concentrate on for a long time.
(c) Books more important as museum pieces than texts that should be read.
(d) Breezy, summer-day reading.

2. What one thing did Mencken feel was useful from the contributions of Sigmund Freud?
(a) The notion that dreams could reveal aspects of our everyday lives.
(b) The notion that people could be easily hypnotized.
(c) The notion that "mother issues" were deeply-seated.
(d) The notion that lying stemmed from an unconscious place.

3. Which was NOT a source of loud noise in the Baltimore of the 1880s, according to Mencken?
(a) Children singing and yelling in the streets.
(b) Barking dogs.
(c) Iron tires hitting hard cobblestone streets.
(d) Penny candy vendors hawking their candy.

4. In "Recollections of Notable Cops," why does Mencken find the idea of a police academy remarkable?
(a) Academies usually teach useless skills; police academies teach useful skills.
(b) Cops in Mencken's younger days were not educated.
(c) Mencken states that police academies are contrary to the ideals of democracy.
(d) Mencken regards policemen as corrupt, vicious brutes.

5. Which decade, according to the author, was Mencken at his best?
(a) The 1930s.
(b) The 1940s.
(c) The 1920s.
(d) The 1910s.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mencken state about the literary influence(s) of Theodore Dreiser?

2. What must modern religions do to "escape absurdity"?

3. What was "The Art Eternal" according to Mencken?

4. What did Mencken satirize in "Quid Est Veritas"?

5. Why was Theodore Dreiser compared to Franz Schubert by Mencken?

(see the answer key)

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