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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. Who did Dillard see standing at the chess table in the Roanoke library one night?
(a) The head librarian.
(b) The librarian's wife.
(c) A baby in a diaper.
(d) Her phantom opponent.

2. To what does Dillard compare writing a book?
(a) Running a marathon.
(b) Learning to walk via crawling.
(c) Climbing a long ladder.
(d) A reality television show.

3. Which author would walk through the hills for seven or eight hours on end without a hint of fatigue?
(a) Stevens.
(b) Nietzsche.
(c) Dante.
(d) Emerson.

4. When Dillard lacked sufficient energy for writing one morning in Chapter 3, what does she say she did to try and get it?
(a) Smoked and drank coffee.
(b) Played the recorder.
(c) Split some wood and smoked.
(d) Ran a few miles and ate.

5. When Dillard wrote in Roanoke, Virginia, what did she long for upon coming home after writing?
(a) Sleeping till noon.
(b) A dreamless sleep.
(c) Cigarettes and coffee.
(d) A tolerant giant to soothe her.

Short Answer Questions

1. When Dillard left her cabin for home in Chapter 5 during a northeaster, how was she feeling, walking down the beach?

2. What did Dillard once describe a moth on a ship as doing?

3. Referring to a new idea, who said, 'Cheep--and all at once there it is'?

4. Dillard refers to writing as changing "..from an expression of your notions to an epistemological tool." What does epistemological mean?

5. What does the novel as a form usually represent, according to Dillard?

(see the answer key)

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