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

Short Answer Questions

1. What kind of acts does the lover perform in The Last Leaf/Magic.

2. In Love's Obscenity/Obscene, what is the author's first example of obscenity?

3. How is the sensibility of the amorous subject described in the section entitled "Flayed?"

4. What is the definition of languor offered in the section Love's Languor?

5. In Exiled from the Image-repertoire/Exile, the idea of exile can be associated with which of the following things?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. The Unknowable has to do with the lover's ability, or lack thereof, to know the other: what conclusion does the lover come to in this section?

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

4. Describe the scenario in At Fault/Faults between the lover and the loved one at the train station.

5. In The Ghost Ship/Errantry, why is the lover doomed to wander?

6. Describe the functioning of the loquela in the section entitled The Loquela.

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

8. List some of the scenarios described by the narrator to illustrate the sense of disreality in The World Thunderstruck/Disreality.

9. In the section I Love You, what happens to the amorous subject when he finally here's the words "I love you" returned to him? Cite a couple examples.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In this essay, you will discuss the nature of ravishment as outlined in the text, showing how the modern form draws from and transforms early myths of the ravisher.

1) Contrast the ancient myth of the ravisher with the modern concept of ravishment. How does the object of rape become the subject of love?

2) Discuss the nature of the lover's ravishment. How is it described in the text? What state precedes this ravishment and why?

3) What does the element of surprise have to do with ravishment, in both early and modern versions?

4) What is the eventual conclusion to this state?

Essay Topic 3

Elaborate on the notion that the word "adorable" (Adorable, p. 18) represents a failure in language.

- Why, and on whose part, does this this failure occur?

- How does the lover view his desire and how does this affect his relationship to language?

- How does the term "adorable" function?

(see the answer keys)

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