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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapters 4, 5 and 6.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In Dillard's experience, what always wins over the vision being forgotten?
(a) An imaginary object.
(b) The page.
(c) The set of mental relationships.
(d) The work's intellectual structure.

2. When Dillard relays a story about a cabdriver singing a boring song, why did the driver sing it twice?
(a) It had taken him a long time to get it right.
(b) He was stalling for time.
(c) He wanted to bore the author.
(d) It was a throw-away song.

3. What was Dillard's painter neighbor, Glenn, working on for six months in Chapter 6?
(a) Landscapes painted by dripping paint on canvas.
(b) Folded sculpture.
(c) Painting over marbleized papers.
(d) Dipping papers into vats of colored oil on water.

4. Dillard believes that some writers weaken their resolve to discard parts of their work. Why?
(a) They believe every word they write is too important to discard.
(b) People have told them it is too good to discard.
(c) It is too much work.
(d) The words have come to have a necessary quality.

5. What does Dillard describe as 'a net for catching days' in Chapter 2?
(a) A journal.
(b) Clocks.
(c) Dreams.
(d) A schedule.

Short Answer Questions

1. Jack London maintained that every writer needs a technique, experience, and what else?

2. Thornton Wilder cited an unnamed writer of sonnets as saying only one line drops from where?

3. What did Dillard notice most in the Washington cabin she wrote in?

4. Who once said that '..his firewood warmed him twice because he labored to cut his own'?

5. When a writer is stuck while writing a book, what does Dillard think he should do?

(see the answer key)

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