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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of Lu Hsun's family members died when he was young?
(a) Mother.
(b) Brother.
(c) Father.
(d) Sister.

2. How did Virginia Woolf die?
(a) She was shot by a jealous lover.
(b) She was run over by an automobile.
(c) She drowned herself.
(d) Of old age.

3. George Orwell is not the real name of the author, and yet it is used in place of the author's real name for published works. What is "George Orwell" an example of?
(a) A pen name.
(b) A fabled name.
(c) A penciled-in name.
(d) A trick name.

4. Who wrote "How to Start to Write?"
(a) Ivan Turgenev.
(b) Carlos Fuentes.
(c) Walter Benjamin.
(d) F. Scott Fitzgerald.

5. Where did Walter Benjamin keep a library?
(a) Tokyo.
(b) Washington, D.C.
(c) Frankfurt.
(d) Paris.

Short Answer Questions

1. When was Lu Hsun born?

2. What nationality is Walter Benjamin?

3. Under what circumstances did Walter Benjamin die?

4. What term best describes the type of literature written by Virginia Woolf?

5. Who wrote "Walking"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What kind of literature did Virginia Woolf write? What was a common focus that united her work?

2. What is the subject of Junichiro Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows?" What hope does Tanizaki express at the end of the essay?

3. What is Robert Louis Stevenson best known for today?

4. Under what circumstances are Lu Hsun's "This Tool is Life" and "Death" written? What are the subjects of these essays?

5. What level of literary output did G. K. Chesterton achieve in his lifetime?

6. What is Jose Luis Borges' perspective on his own increasing blindness, as revealed in his essay "Blindness?"

7. How did Virginia Woolf's personal background impact her work?

8. What is Orwell's "Such, Such Were the Joys..." about? What complaints does Orwell have about the subject?

9. How does Seymour Krim's life compare to Mary McCarthy's? How did Krim's childhood impact his writing?

10. What views is Henry David Thoreau well known for? How did he believe one should live one's life?

(see the answer keys)

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