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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 is the dual nature of the figure of Gradiva?

2. What does that composer claim regarding tears?

3. What is the preferred response to the utterance "I love you?"

4. What does the lover give the other when he offers a gift?

5. What causes the particular feeling, experienced by the character Werther, in the episode involving oranges?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In The Dedication, how does the act of giving follow "the family model"?

3. Describe the relation between the informer, the lover, and the loved being in The Informer.

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

5. "Looking embarrassed"/Embarrassment: Describe the scene of embarrassment from Werther cited in this section.

6. What kind of scenes does the lover image in Ideas of Solution/Outcomes?

7. 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.

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

In Askesis and Dark Glasses/To Hide, the lover's suffering becomes performative. He performs acts that point to his amorous state for the benefit of the other.

- How does the lover perform his suffering? What are the activities, rituals, or behaviors he adopts?

- What are the goals of these actions?

- Can the lover control the outcome, or effect, of these behaviors?

Essay Topic 3

In the short paragraph that precedes the author's discussion of figures, he writes that "the lover is not to be reduced to a single symptomal subject."

- Explain what the author means when he says that the lover is not just a single individual.

- Why does the author choose to write with the first person pronoun ("I") and what does it show or signify?

- How does the lover speak and for whom is the discourse intended?

(see the answer keys)

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