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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. From whom does Didion say she stole the title "Why I Write"?
(a) George Orwell.
(b) George Eliot.
(c) Ernest Hemingway.
(d) Orson Wells.

2. What issue plagued Hemingway by the time he was at the height of fame according to Didion in "Last Words"?
(a) Alcoholism.
(b) Poverty.
(c) Depression.
(d) Agoraphobia.

3. What did Tony Richardson begin doing years before his death for "something to do" between film shoots?
(a) Writing a collection of short stories.
(b) Writing a memoir.
(c) Painting.
(d) Working on a TV script.

4. What did Hemingway instruct his executors to do in a letter written a few years before his death?
(a) Never to publish or agree to publish his letters.
(b) Complete any unfinished novels for publication.
(c) Edit his letters before publication.
(d) Leave all proceeds from publication to his family.

5. What is English 106A, the course Didion discusses in "Telling Stories"?
(a) A British Lit class.
(b) A writer's workshop.
(c) A poetry workshop.
(d) An American literature class.

6. What does Didion say she tried very hard to do while a student at Berkeley in "Why I Write"?
(a) Think more realistically.
(b) Think in abstracts.
(c) Think like her professors.
(d) Think clearly.

7. In "Telling Stories," what novel does Didion say developed from her notes that began about a man and woman in New York?
(a) A Book of Common Prayer.
(b) Run River.
(c) A River Runs Through it.
(d) The Sacramento River.

8. In "Last Words," who is Hemingway said to have written telling him to give up the idea of writing a book on him because he did not wish to cooperate?
(a) George Orwell.
(b) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(c) Charles A. Fenton.
(d) Charles S Dutton.

9. In "Telling Stories," what does Didion say she learned to do in writing "When Did Music Come This Way"?
(a) Write with control.
(b) Write in first person.
(c) Use imagery.
(d) Write in third person.

10. Didion says that one of the pictures in her mind when she began her novel Play it as It Lays came from an incident in what city?
(a) New York.
(b) Sacramento.
(c) Los Angeles.
(d) Las Vegas.

11. In "Why I Write," Didion refers to writing as "the tactic of a secret" what?
(a) Genius.
(b) Snob.
(c) Introvert.
(d) Bully.

12. What was Didion suffering from which became one of the images used in her novel A Book of Common Prayer?
(a) Food poisoning.
(b) Flu.
(c) Norovirus.
(d) Paratyphoid.

13. In "Last Words," what writer does Didion say she could see Hemingway's influence on while teaching at Berkeley?
(a) William Faulkner.
(b) F. Scott Fitzgerald.
(c) George Orwell.
(d) Gertrude Stein.

14. Where is the film The Border being shot at the start of "Long Distance Runner"?
(a) El Paso.
(b) Hollywood.
(c) Colorado Springs.
(d) New York.

15. In "Telling Stories," how many stories does Didion say she completed for English 106A?
(a) 1.
(b) 0.
(c) 5.
(d) 3.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Long Distance Runner," what does Didion think is one of the reasons for Richardson's behavior?

2. In "Long Distance Runner," where is Richardson filiming in 1989?

3. In "Long Distance Runner," what argument does Didion cite when discussing how Richardson liked to be contrary?

4. In "Telling Stories," how many stories does Didion say she had to write in her English 106A class

5. What tennis player's behavior did Richardson say was "glorious" accordion to Didion in "Long Distance Runner"?

(see the answer keys)

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