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

2. What does Eric envision as the yearly fee for membership in Villa Venus?

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

4. What does the newspaper Van's father is reading at the airport say?

5. What did Van think was in the secret drawer in the secretaire at Ardis Hall?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. What does Van give to Lucette in exchange for the name of the man who wants to marry her?

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

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

8. In Marina's last days, why is Van planning a trip to America?

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

10. What does Van plan to do in the duel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the mental and physical worlds in the novel.

1) How does the mental world of Van's intellectual investigations and books relate to the physical world around him?

2) How does Van's mental relationship with Ada relate to their physical relationship?

3) How does the balance of mind and body, mental and physical change over time, as Van ages?

Essay Topic 2

As Van's memoir, the novel deals with memory. It also deals with memory through Van's discussion of time and its meaning. Discuss time and memory in the novel.

1) How is the story of Van and Ada's childhood changed by memory? What significance is there to the fact that the children's diaries were destroyed, forcing them to recreate the events from memory?

2) What role does memory plan in Van and Ada's feelings about each other why they are separated?

3) How does time affect the characters? How does Van's discussion of time relate to the characters' experiences?

Essay Topic 3

The novel is a memoir, narrated by Van with input from Ada, and written in the third person with occasional first-person interludes. Discuss point of view in the novel.

1) Why does Van write his memoir mainly in the third person? What does this say about Van's perception of himself through time and his memories?

2) At what points does Van interrupt the narrative in the first person? What do these first person sections add to the novel? Why are they there?

3) What does Ada add to the novel? Where is her voice present?

(see the answer keys)

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