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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. "The Other's Body" divides the other's body into two parts: what are they?
(a) The imagined body and the actual body.
(b) Flesh and spirit.
(c) The emotional and the physical.
(d) The body proper such as the skin, eyes, and the voice.

2. In this section, how is the term "karma" defined?
(a) As suffering, which the lover hopes to inflict on the other.
(b) As causality, which the lover wishes to escape from.
(c) As nirvana, which the lover hopes to attain.
(d) As nothingness, which the lover hopes to attain.

3. To whom is the narrator's asceticism addressed?
(a) To the other (the one who is loved).
(b) To those friends who doubt the depth of his feelings.
(c) To the mother.
(d) To society.

4. What happens when one speaks of love in the objective?
(a) "One" becomes "I."
(b) "You" becomes "he" or "she" or "one."
(c) "He" or "she" becomes "you."
(d) "You" becomes "it."

5. What is the duration of a discourse on love?
(a) Five months.
(b) One year.
(c) It is interminable.
(d) A decade or more.

6. What are the advantages of the act of annulment?
(a) The lover is never without the attentions of the beloved.
(b) The lover can seek out a new love interest.
(c) The lover can take on a new identity.
(d) The lover retreats into the idea of love when threatened by injury or jealousy.

7. In the same section, what does the narrator refer to when he says: "I am an amputee who still feels pain in his missing leg?"
(a) The pain of rejection that haunts him.
(b) The effects of a childhood loss that continues to affect his relationships.
(c) The tendency to hallucinate the other and recreate the sense of waiting even after the relationship is over.
(d) The story of a mandarin and a courtesan.

8. Which of the following topics describes the theme of "The Absent One/Absence?"
(a) A process whereby the lover's absence is transformed into an abandonment.
(b) The lover's lack of concern for the absent love object.
(c) The role of absence in film narratives.
(d) The inner motivations for leaving a relationship.

9. When does this desire affect the subject?
(a) When the subject is bored.
(b) When the subject is in a state of raw panic.
(c) When the subject is in a state of despair or fulfillment.
(d) When the subject is irritated.

10. In this section, what does the lover hope to achieve by touching the other?
(a) Sympathy from the other.
(b) Compassion from the other.
(c) Understanding from the other.
(d) A response, an interplay of meaning with the other.

11. Which of the following is a definition of the word "laetitia," as presented in the section by that name?
(a) A forbidden pleasure.
(b) A subtle pleasure.
(c) A lifelong pleasure.
(d) A lively pleasure.

12. How does the lover respond to accidental contact with the desired being in the section entitled "When my finger accidentally..."?
(a) The lover creates meaning from the contact.
(b) The lover remains unaffected.
(c) The lover feels excessive distress.
(d) The lover becomes shy and nervous.

13. In "Events, Setbacks and Annoyances," which of the following describes the effect of "contingencies" on the amorous subject?
(a) The amorous subject is ambivalent about random events.
(b) The amorous subject's happiness is destroyed by random events.
(c) The amorous subject is oblivious to random events.
(d) The amorous subject's happiness is increased by random events.

14. In "What is to be done?" what problem does the author present?
(a) Finding a solution to a dispute.
(b) Deciding when to leave the other.
(c) Choosing between two alternatives: this, or that.
(d) Solving a difficult social crisis.

15. How is the heart described in the section entitled "The Heart?"
(a) As a tired metaphor for romance.
(b) As a gift-object and an organ of desire.
(c) As a pretext for intimacy.
(d) As a symbol of fertility.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the section titled "I want to understand," what is the subject trying to understand?

2. When the narrator states that "the other whom I love...is atopos," what does he mean?

3. What does the "fulfillment" or comblement of the title refer to?

4. According to the author, who carries out the "discourse of absence" historically?

5. How does the lover feel about himself when confronted with the other's atopia?

(see the answer keys)

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