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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 entices Kristyna?

2. Why does the student settle into litost?

3. What is one condition that must occur for graphomania to take place?

4. What does Kristyna ask the student to get her?

5. What is more valuable to Kristyna than her relationship with the student?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Kristyna?

2. Explain who Tamina is and the significance of how Kundera describes her.

3. What is the relationship of litost to romantic love in general and specifically in relation to Kristyna and the student?

4. What is ironic about the student deceiving Kristyna and attending the Writer's Club meeting?

5. Who does Kristyna meet and what attracts her to this person?

6. Briefly describe a few of the most salient points about Tamina.

7. Why do you think Kundera blurs historical moments?

8. To what do Kristyna and the student agree and what is the outcome? What does the student's evaluation of Kristyna tell the reader?

9. What does Tamina do shortly after her husband dies and what might this foreshadow?

10. What character's life is again addressed in part 6 and how is her life dismissed in a sense?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Kundera's book is not so much a book of actions, but one of thought. Discuss one of the following:

1. Discuss the theme of forgetting as it occurs in two of the parts other than Part 1 and 4. Use specific examples to support a thesis.

2. Compare and contrast the idea of forgetting in Part 1 compared to Part 4.

3. Argue one side or the other of this statement: Kundera believes forgetting can be a valuable tool for healing.

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

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