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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 Van term the act of pausing and sending the mind slightly backwards, to examine the moment of the present?

2. Who chooses the girls at Villa Venus?

3. Who does Van have read and forward his letter to Ada about Lucette's death?

4. Who is Van's second for the duel?

5. Who is visiting Villa Venus, causing it to be overrun with police?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How did Percy de Prey die?

5. When Ada telephones Van, what does she tell him?

6. What is Cordula's conversation like?

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

8. What does Ada's letter say she will do if Van doesn't allow her to come live with him?

9. Why does Van think he is sterile?

10. What does Van do after leaving Demon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss sexuality in the novel.

1) How and why is sexuality related to youth in the novel? How does sexuality change with age?

2) How does sexuality relate to love and affection in the novel? What do the characters expect from sex, and what does sex actually provide?

3) What role does sexual decadence, especially represented by the Villa Venus brothels, play in the novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Terra and Antiterra in the novel.

1) Why does the author set the novel in an alternative reality, an "Antiterra"? What role does the imaginary planet, a mirror of our "real" world, play in the novel?

2) How do the characters envision Terra? What do their perceptions of Terra show about the characters themselves?

3) How do Terra and Antiterra differ? Compare the two worlds of the novel.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss vanity in the novel.

1) Van is described in the novel as vain. Does Van love himself more than any other? Is he proud? What characterizes his vanity?

2) Is Van's vanity an essential element of his attraction to Ada? Is he attracted to her because of her similarities to himself?

3) What role does Van's vanity play in his career? How does it relate to his acrobatic show? How does it relate to his psychological/philosophical books?

(see the answer keys)

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