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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. Which of the following is NOT the name of one of Van's books?

2. What does Ada suggest that she and Van should do in a few days, after she finishes her business in Geneva?

3. Where is Lucette staying in New York?

4. To what drink does Van attribute his boyish look?

5. How long does Van spend in Cordula's Manhattan flat?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Van gain the post of Rattner Chair of Philosophy at University of Kingston?

2. Why does Van need to go back for more surgery?

3. What excuse does Van make up to have time alone with Ada?

4. How does Van remember his three farewell lectures on Bergson's Time?

5. What is Cordula's conversation like?

6. What does Van say is as common in dreams as metaphors are in poetry?

7. What does Van do after leaving Demon?

8. How does Van characterize to Greg his relationship with Ada?

9. What plan does Lucette propose to Van?

10. How does Van respond to Ada's arrival?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the importance of Ardis Hall in the novel.

1) What meanings and associations does Ardis Hall have for Van and Ada?

2) Why does Van never go back and live at Ardis Hall when he is older? Why does Lucette suggest they go to Ardis Hall?

3) By the end of the novel, Ardis Hall mainly exists in memory for the main characters. How is the memory different from the reality?

Essay Topic 2

Van and Ada part bitterly after 1888 because of jealousy, and jealousy plays an important role in their relationship. Discuss jealousy in the novel.

1) Why is Van so jealous of Ada's other sexual relationships, when he is also sexually active without her? How is Ada jealous of Van?

2) How is Lucette jealous of Ada? How does her jealousy affect and define her relationships with Van and with Ada?

3) What other jealousies exist in the novel? How do the different characters respond to and think of jealousy?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss madness in the novel.

1) What is Aqua's madness in the novel? Why does she go from sanitarium to sanitarium, and why does she kill herself?

2) What types of madness do Van's patients display? Why do mad patients see visions of Terra in the novel?

(see the answer keys)

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