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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. What is the hero's great fear following his transformation?
(a) His boss' anger.
(b) His father's anger.
(c) His mother's tears.
(d) That his girlfriend will find out.

2. How does Kafka express the absurd?
(a) Through tragedy.
(b) Through farce that is close to sentimentality.
(c) Through representations of everyday life.
(d) Through the logical.

3. What has been the focus of don Juan's existence?
(a) Absurd escapades.
(b) Short-lived joys.
(c) Self-actualization.
(d) Avoiding conflict.

4. What does Camus see as the one truly serious philosophical problem?
(a) Judging whether or not life is worth living.
(b) Judging the value of religion.
(c) The problem of human pain and suffering.
(d) Judging the value of actions.

5. What phenomenon can humans have no experience of?
(a) True empathy.
(b) Death.
(c) Mind.
(d) Karma.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did the gods view Sisyphus' punishment as particularly dreadful?

2. Why does Chestov think we turn to God?

3. According to Camus, what is tiresome about the human attitude to fate?

4. In The Castle, what is significant about the character Amalia?

5. What technique is employed by philosophical novelists?

Short Essay Questions

1. What technique of Kafka's does Camus posit as the reason for the unity in that writer's work?

2. Why is the fame of a writer likely to endure and that of an actor not to do so?

3. According to Camus, what is the one serious problem for philosophy?

4. Why does Camus call Prometheus the 'first of modern conquerors'?

5. What important feature of Dostoevsky's work does Camus explore in the section entitled 'Kirilov'?

6. Why does Camus wonder if an absurd work of art is truly possible?

7. What is Camus' basic criticism of phenomenology?

8. According to Camus, what must we take into consideration when reading the works of Franz Kafka?

9. What were Sisyphus's sins against the gods, for which he was punished?

10. How does Camus view the novel as an artistic endeavor?

(see the answer keys)

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