View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following characterizes the figure "night" in the section "And the night illuminated the night"/Night?

2. What does the lover acknowledge in This can't go on/Unbearable?

3. What do a person's tears prove to him?

4. What observation is made about the amorous subject in the section In Praise of Tears/Crying?

5. In "Dedication," the author presents an internal dialogue that accompanies which of the following acts?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Domnei/Dependency, what does the lover mean when he says: "I am twice subject?"

2. Briefly describe the process of induction in the figure "Show me whom to desire"/Induction.

3. In Inexpressible Love/To Write, what does the narrator suggest when he says "I cannot write myself"?

4. In Love's Languor/Languor, how is the Satyr contrasted with languor?

5. Describe the lover's process of identification, as seen in the character Werther, in the section entitled Identifications.

6. Describe the type of jealousy displayed by Werther in the figure Jealousy.

7. Exuberance/Expenditure: Discuss the contrast the author makes between the characters Werther and Albert.

8. What object does the lover compare himself to in This can't go on/Unbearable?

9. In Images, what is the lover's relationship to visual images he sees?

10. Briefly state what Werther writes in his letter to Charlotte and what it signifies in The Love Letter/Letter.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Ravishment, the myth of love at first sight is discussed at length. Love at first sight or ravishment is in fact drawn explicitly from the image-repertoire.

- How does the text describe love at first sight?

- What are the conditions needed for it to occur?

- How does the visual function, e.g. what is the significance of the "scene?"

- How does the aural function?

- Does love at first sight really happen, or is it something that takes shape in the lover's mind upon reflection?

Essay Topic 2

In Jealousy, the author says that "Werther's jealousy derives from Images" (pg. 144.) Likewise, in Images (pg. 132), the author describes how Werther is affected by a particular scene involving Charlotte. The image clearly has a powerful effect on the lover. Why?

- What does the image represent?

- How does the lover interpret various images and what do they become for him?

- How does the image inform desire? (pg. 145.)

- What is the nature of the jealousy that images provoke?

Essay Topic 3

On the first page of the book, the author claims that the lover's discourse functions as an affirmation. He discusses this affirmation again in Affirmation (pg. 22), Alone (p. 210) and Signs (p. 214).

- What is the status of love and of the lover's discourse in society?

- What is it defining itself against and why? Is it excluded? How?

- Why is love classified as "intractable"?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,035 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample