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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 does Dorothy come to believe about Van?

2. How did Ada feel about acting tips from Marina?

3. What is Van's earliest memory?

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

5. What example does Van use in discussing order or succession in our perception of the past?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the reviews of Van's first book like?

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

3. What does Cordula tell Van about Vanda Broom?

4. What tragedy happened at the Villa Venus in Souvenir, Missouri?

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

6. What does Lucette say about Ada's hands?

7. What exercise in memory does Van attempt, which he also gives to his patients?

8. What does Van propose about the future in his treatise on time?

9. Why does Van think he is sterile?

10. What is Van's opinion of acting?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The novel follows Van and Ada from their youth through their old age. Discuss aging in the novel.

1) How does Van change throughout his life? Are his physical changes separable from his mental and emotional changes?

2) How do the characters' values and priorities change over time? What is important to them in their youth and as they grow older?

3) How do the characters' perceptions of the world around them and of their own relationship change as they age?

4) What meaning does the approach of death have for Van and Ada?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the relationships between parents and children in the novel.

1) How does Van relate to Aqua? How does he relate to Demon? How does he relate to Marina? What does he get from each of these parental figures, and how do they affect him?

2) How does Marina relate to Ada and Lucette? How does she influence them? Compare her influence to the influence of the governess.

3) What influence does Dan have as a parent? How do Lucette and Ada relate to him?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Van as a character.

1) What drives Van's attraction to Ada? Why does he carry his obsession with her through long absences?

2) What is Van's perception of women? How does he treat them, and what role do they play in his life?

3) What is Van's perception of himself? How is he a "vain Veen"?

4) Discuss Van's work as a writer and psychologist. Why does he choose this work? Why does he write the books he writes, and what contributes to his philosophy?

(see the answer keys)

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