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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What does Dillard say that the printed word cannot compete with?
(a) People.
(b) The movies.
(c) Travel.
(d) Music.

3. What was Dillard's study on Cape Cod?
(a) A pine shed.
(b) A former lighthouse.
(c) The public library.
(d) A small room in her home.

4. In Dillard's thoughts, what words stopped Rebbe Shmelke from hearing his teacher?
(a) "Amen."
(b) "God bless you."
(c) "The Lord spoke."
(d) "So be it."

5. What famous author said, "The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon....and at length the middle-aged man concludes to build a wood-shed with them"?
(a) Henry James.
(b) Walt Whitman.
(c) Henry Thoreau.
(d) Thomas Mann.

6. How did Dillard get into the library in Roanoke late at night?
(a) She climbed in through a window.
(b) She hid in the women's room when the door was locked.
(c) She had a key.
(d) The door was never locked.

7. How long did it take William Faulkner to write "As I Lay Dying"?
(a) Ten years.
(b) Six years.
(c) Six months.
(d) Six weeks.

8. What was seen outside the carrel window in Roanoke when Dillard peeked outside the blinds?
(a) Fireworks.
(b) The parking lot.
(c) Daylight.
(d) A May beetle.

9. What had Dillard forgotten all about as she worked on a Fourth-of-July night?
(a) The rest of the world.
(b) Where she was in her writing.
(c) Her books.
(d) Eating dinner.

10. What book was Dillard working on in Roanoke, Virginia?
(a) Living by Fiction.
(b) Holy the Firm.
(c) An American Childhood.
(d) Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

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

12. Which author would only write poetry when he was '...rather out of health'?
(a) Wallace Stevens.
(b) Osip Mandelstam.
(c) Jack London.
(d) A.E. Housman.

13. What did an inchworm search for in a panic in Chapter 1?
(a) Its front legs.
(b) A caterpillar.
(c) A way in which to lift its hind legs to its front legs.
(d) The next part of a blade of grass it was climbing.

14. Finish this West African proverb from Chapter 2: "The beginning of wisdom is.."
(a) to open a book.
(b) listening to others.
(c) to get you a roof.
(d) nature.

15. How does Dillard describe the process of writing a book?
(a) "It is boring and difficult."
(b) "It is life at its most free."
(c) "It is something to avoid at all costs."
(d) "It is a dreamlike task."

Short Answer Questions

1. How many hours of sleep would Jack London usually get?

2. Who said a long poem takes between five and ten years to write?

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

4. Who does Dillard say that she believes to be one of the most prolific writers who has ever lived?

5. Which religious sect did Dillard read about in the Virginia library?

(see the answer keys)

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