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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. At the end of this section, which to spaces or realities does the author oppose?

2. Which author does the quotation "And the night illuminated the night" come from?

3. In the same section, the author notes that to write about love is to "confront the muck of language"; which of the following describes this problem?

4. In "Inexpressible Love," what two powerful myths does the author mention?

5. In "Dedication," what effect can writing, as a form of amorous dedication, have on the other?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Describe the lover's struggle with demons in "We are our own demons"/Demons.

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The lover would like to surround the other and their love in a cocoon of intimacy that is uniquely theirs. Yet, repeatedly the lover is reminded through images, interactions, or through language, that the other also belongs to the world. Discuss this dynamic in several of the figures, for example, Alteration (pg. 25), The Orange/Irksome (pg. 110), and Tenderness (pg. 224.) Does the lover's image of the other shift as a result?

Essay Topic 2

In Obscene, the author argues that modern views make love's sentimentality obscene, therefore, the lover's refusal to abandon sentiment becomes a transgression.

- What are the negative views of sentiment? Of the lover?

- Why is the lover's sentimentality obscene? Provide examples.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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