View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When a writer is stuck while writing a book, what does Dillard think he should do?
(a) Do crosswords to stimulate the brain.
(b) Nothing but think about it.
(c) Read books that are similar.
(d) Write, no matter what.

2. What did Dillard find herself doing in the rare book room nearly every day for about two weeks?
(a) Looking for rare books on chess.
(b) Writing notes to a chess player.
(c) Playing chess with an unknown opponent.
(d) Spying on the head librarian.

3. What did Dillard's study carrel in the Hollins College library overlook?
(a) A grove of elm trees.
(b) A tar-and-gravel roof.
(c) A river.
(d) A brick wall.

4. What was Dillard's only physical activity in the one-room log cabin on an empty beach?
(a) Jogging to her husband's cabin in the evening.
(b) Walking a few feet from the bed to the desk.
(c) Practicing yoga on the beach.
(d) Walking along the beach at low tide.

5. How did Dillard come to understand the proper way to split wood?
(a) The neighbors told her.
(b) She watched an instructional video.
(c) Via a dream.
(d) By sheer luck.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dillard's "line of words" do with random pictures in the writer's mind?

2. What does Dillard say that she found so appealing about a Danish aristocrat?

3. Finish this West African proverb from Chapter 2: "The beginning of wisdom is.."

4. What did Wallace Stevens dictate to his secretary?

5. In an analogy about a photographer, why did the photographer say he brought the same rejected photograph for judgment every year?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 318 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample