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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dillard claim as being a good life?
(a) A life lived in the senses.
(b) A life spent reading.
(c) A day spent reading.
(d) Living as a Danish aristocrat.

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

3. What do television and films do to the body's senses, according to Dillard?
(a) Make connections.
(b) Numb them.
(c) They make the writer sense the need to write.
(d) Stimulate them.

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

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

6. Which insect is discussed in the book as part of an entomological experiment?
(a) A fly.
(b) A butterfly.
(c) Phataria.
(d) A worm.

7. What does Dillard's "line of words" do with random pictures in the writer's mind?
(a) Dismisses them.
(b) Dreams of them.
(c) Writes them down, word for word.
(d) Dissects them out.

8. Oftentimes, what part of Dillard's work must be edited out?
(a) The dialogue.
(b) The opening paragraph.
(c) The typos and misspellings.
(d) The best-written part.

9. In the life of a Danish aristocrat mentioned in Chapter 2, what did he do for most of the day?
(a) Ate.
(b) Napped.
(c) Hunted.
(d) Swam.

10. How many hours of sleep would Jack London usually get?
(a) Seven.
(b) Eight.
(c) Two.
(d) Four.

11. Who is the main character in a story told by Ernest Thompson Seton?
(a) An Eskimo man.
(b) An Algonquin woman.
(c) A Native American woman.
(d) A fisherman.

12. As explained by Dillard in Chapter 1, what must be done to a piece of writing after the first draft is finished?
(a) You must strike it with a hammer.
(b) It must be mercilessly edited.
(c) Delete just a few sentences.
(d) Nothing; it is done.

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

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

15. What happened in Bridgeport, Connecticut one morning in April, 1987?
(a) A writer was killed.
(b) A Rabbi went to prayers.
(c) The author sustained a hairline fracture.
(d) A building collapsed.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Which author would only write poetry when he was '...rather out of health'?

3. How long did it take William Faulkner to write "As I Lay Dying"?

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

5. What does Dillard say that she feels a writer must do about feeling one's work in progress is either magnificent or abominable?

(see the answer keys)

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