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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. With whom did the protagonist work on violin harmonics?

2. In what Kansas city is the protagonist asked if she is a sex worker?

3. What make of car does the protagonist’s brother buy?

4. How old does the protagonist report being when she learned to read?

5. In which of the following does the protagonist’s father die?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the protagonist report initially attempting to distract herself from her hallucinations?

2. What “old saw in racing” does the protagonist report (165-66)?

3. What hope in solving topological problems does the protagonist note?

4. What does the protagonist note is commonly the most interesting thing about philosophers?

5. What value does the protagonist note accrues in not writing down ideas?

6. What is the subject of the paper the protagonist sent Grothendieck in advance of arriving at IHES (136)?

7. Why does the protagonist indicate people prefer the idea of fate to the idea of chance?

8. What doubt about the protagonist does the interlocutor voice?

9. Per the novel, what is a prestige?

10. How does the protagonist respond to being asked if she is a sex worker?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Similarly, the lengths of chapters influence reading. What pattern of chapter-length is present in the novel, if any? What effect does the length of chapters have on the reading? How is the effect achieved?

Essay Topic 2

To what genre other than psychological fiction might Stella Maris be considered to belong? What in the text supports that identification? How does it do so?

Essay Topic 3

Section divisions, their titles, and chapter numbering / division schema are all components of paratext. That is, they are not part of the text but are associated with it closely and affect its meaning. What significance, if any, accrues to the chapter-numbering scheme at work in Stella Maris? If there is significance, how does that significance manifest? If there is not, what in the novel supports the paratextual divisions that are in place?

(see the answer keys)

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