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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. John Gardner's novel Grendel uses the original story as a source for what?
(a) A psychological study of motherhood.
(b) A feminist interpretation of Grendel's mother.
(c) A meditation on the nature of heroism.
(d) A retelling from Grendel's point of view.

2. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison remarks upon what tone common in slave narratives?
(a) Despair.
(b) Objectivity.
(c) Sarcasm.
(d) Fury.

3. In "Hard, True, and Lasting," Morrison says that what feeling is the first one writers feel when they begin to write?
(a) Independence.
(b) Gratitude.
(c) Separateness.
(d) Love.

4. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison says that she sees a reflection of African-American cultural traditions in what form of literature?
(a) Epic poetry.
(b) Greek tragedy.
(c) Oral narratives.
(d) Early European novels.

5. In "Goodbye to All That," Morrison opens with an anecdote about asking an interviewer to omit all questions about what?
(a) Her novels.
(b) Politics.
(c) Race.
(d) Her academic career.

6. In "God's Language," Morrison says that she does not keep a writer's notebook because of what?
(a) Her process does not work with a writer's notebook.
(b) She is afraid that people would want to read it.
(c) She thinks writer's notebooks are an excuse to avoid actual writing.
(d) Her novels serve the same purpose as a writer's notebook.

7. In "The Writer Before the Page," Morrison explains what about the structure of her novels?
(a) She dislikes nonlinear narrative.
(b) She is frustrated when the parts feel fragmentary.
(c) She finds chapter and part designations unhelpful.
(d) She always begins with a careful outline.

8. In "Introduction to Peter Sellars," Morrison praises his work for being what?
(a) Both feminist and scholarly.
(b) Critical of racial hierarchies.
(c) Both accessible and challenging.
(d) Aware of the boundaries between Self and Other.

9. In "Faulkner and Women," What reasons does Morrison give for not being able to speak to the conference about Faulkner?
(a) She is too busy writing Beloved.
(b) Faulkner's relationship to women is too unpleasant to speak about.
(c) She has said everything she has to say about Faulkner already, in her Cornell thesis.
(d) She does not feel like she knows enough about Faulkner.

10. In "Tribute to Romare Bearden," Morrison notes what about African American visual art?
(a) It has been criticized more rigorously and unfairly than the other arts.
(b) Its relationship to the other arts has received insufficient attention.
(c) It is more central to Blackness than other arts.
(d) It developed later than other arts, such as literature.

11. In "Faulkner and Women," what does Morrison call the character of Sula?
(a) A conqueror.
(b) An adventuress.
(c) An artist.
(d) A delight.

12. In her "James Baldwin Eulogy," Morrison makes an allusion to what Biblical story?
(a) David and Goliath.
(b) The destruction of Solomon's temple.
(c) The visit of the Three Wise Men to the Christ child.
(d) Leviathan.

13. In "Memory, Creation, and Fiction," what does Morrison say about basing characters on people she knows well?
(a) She does it often, because real people provide a kind of accuracy that wholly fictional people do not.
(b) She does not do it, because real people do not provide enough room for her imagination.
(c) She does it often, because for her it is part of assembling the "collage" of memory.
(d) She does not do it, because it is immoral.

14. In "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," Morrison says that what is different about the discussion of including African-American literature in the canon is that unlike earlier arguments over expanding the canon, this one does what?
(a) Arouses much more violent passions in the defenders of the status quo.
(b) Responds to shifting tastes in the reading public.
(c) Calls into question the authenticity of American literature as a category within the canon.
(d) Undermines the existence of the canon itself.

15. Which is the best definition of "churlish" as used in "Unspeakable Things Unspoken"?
(a) Scholarly, didactic.
(b) Rude, mean-spirited.
(c) Innocent, childlike.
(d) Remote, unobtainable.

Short Answer Questions

1. In "Academic Whispers," who does Morrison say should be asked to speak about racism?

2. "The Trouble with Paradise" is mostly about what?

3. Who was James Baldwin?

4. In "The Site of Memory," Morrison proposes to show how memoir is similar to and different from what?

5. In "Chinua Achebe," what does Morrison say she discovered at Africa House?

(see the answer keys)

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