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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 will happen to the record of Clementis' life?

2. How do Marketa and Eva get along at first?

3. Why does Marketa begin to write her mother-in-law?

4. To whom does Marketa introduce Eva?

5. Where does Kundera meet his former boss?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is it that Marketa does not know about Eva and do you think Marketa would care at this point if she learned this?

2. How is the fur hat symbolic?

3. How does Kundera's loss of his friends in the dancing circle affect him later?

4. What is the larger meaning of the letters which Mirek is supposedly seeking to have back?

5. Why do you think Marketa asks Eva to pretend she is Marketa's cousin?

6. What is the meaning of laughter in part 3?

7. Why does Mirek want his old love letters back from Zdena and do you think his goal is possible?

8. What does this Kundera say about our collective past?

9. What does Kundera say about laughter in response to Michelle and Gabrielle's laughter?

10. What happens that embarrasses Mama?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Much of this book, which could also be considered a collection of short stories related thematically, hinges upon knowledge of the political milieu of Czechoslovakia from 1948 through the early 1970's. Discuss one of the following (These topics will require research):

1. Briefly summarize the political, social and cultural climate of Czechoslovakia in 1948 when the book opens. How is what you have learned about Czechoslovakia of that era relevant to Kundera's book?

2. Briefly summarize the political, social and cultural climate of Czechoslovakia of 1968 when the invasion by Russia of Czechoslovakia takes place. How is what you have learned about Czechoslovakia of that era relevant to Kundera's book?

3. Discuss the ways the setting informs two major themes in the book. Use detailed examples.

Essay Topic 2

In Part 6, Kundera remarks that like Beethoven's final acts, his book is a novel on variations. It is a number of voyages leading into and through one theme. Discuss the following:

1. What is the one theme of this novel?

2. Explain the variations of the theme giving specific examples.

3. Do you think there are other themes besides the one Kundera has in mind? What are they? Explain.

Essay Topic 3

This "novel" is more a text of ideas than action. Discuss one of the following ideas:

1. In part 6: "The Angels," Kundera writes that Hubl remarks that you can "liquidate its people" by erasing their memory of their previous culture. Discuss this idea in context of the book.

2. In part 6: "The Angels," Kundera blurs the historical moments of Clementis and Gottwald, Kafta and the President heretofore referred to as the Presdient of Forgetting, Svoboda. Discuss this blurring of historical moments in context of the book.

3. Discuss the idea that despite hundreds of thousands of lives being influenced and changed, the history of the world is easily forgotten. (From Part 1: "Lost Letters")

(see the answer keys)

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