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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What did the greyhound and Flaubert have in common?
(a) They were both ill at the same time.
(b) They both loved wine.
(c) They were both orphans.
(d) They were both demanding.

2. When they were lowering Caroline's coffin into the ground, what happened?
(a) Flaubert cried out.
(b) The pall bearers dropped it.
(c) It got stuck.
(d) The church bells began to peal.

3. What does Geoffrey say we need to respect about Flaubert even if we think him naive or unsuccessful?
(a) His philanthropy.
(b) His body of work.
(c) His legacy.
(d) His seriousness.

4. How many times are Madame Bovary's eyes actually mentioned in the novel?
(a) Ten.
(b) Dozens.
(c) Six.
(d) One.

5. According to Du Camp, on whom was Madame Bovary modeled?
(a) The village seamstress of Rouen.
(b) The second wife of a medical officer.
(c) Flaubert's cousin.
(d) Flaubert's first mistress.

6. How does Geoffrey think authors legitimize coincidences?
(a) They call them ironies.
(b) They ignore criticism of the coincidences in their books.
(c) They use them to justify the endings of their books.
(d) They use them to justify their characters.

7. Why does Geoffrey think that critics want to control literature?
(a) So they can have power over others.
(b) So they can keep the public from reading inappropriate material.
(c) So they can regulate the past.
(d) So they can impress their readers.

8. With what writer does the biographer Enid Starkie compare Flaubert?
(a) Balzac.
(b) Hugo.
(c) Moliere.
(d) Rousseau.

9. How is Rouen different from the first time Geoffrey visited the city?
(a) It had been bombed then.
(b) It has three times the population.
(c) Its parks have been paved over.
(d) It has been industrialized.

10. How does Flaubert feel about the organization of his ideas?
(a) He puts everything into neat little categories.
(b) He is haphazard about organization about half the time.
(c) He wants others to organize his ideas for him.
(d) He purposely lets ideas fall where they will.

11. Flaubert refers to himself as a bear and his sister as what animal?
(a) The alligator.
(b) The rat.
(c) The lion.
(d) The rabbit.

12. Geoffrey compares biographies to what objects?
(a) Photographs.
(b) Trains.
(c) Desks.
(d) Nets.

13. What happened to the man who owned the parrot in the newspaper article?
(a) He wrote several stories about the parrot.
(b) He died trying to save the parrot.
(c) He bought an aviary.
(d) He believed he had turned into a parrot.

14. In the newspaper article Flaubert saved, what was the parrot trained to say?
(a) Curses.
(b) Quotes from Shakespeare.
(c) The name of its owner's lost love.
(d) The days of the week.

15. The chronology is divided into three sections, the first of which deals with which of the following?
(a) Flaubert's childhood.
(b) Details of Flaubert's life and successes.
(c) Critical response to Flaubert's work.
(d) Flaubert's works.

Short Answer Questions

1. What had Ed lied about to the woman named Kent who gave him the letters?

2. As a student, what subject did Flaubert fail at?

3. From what diseases did Flaubert suffer?

4. What is Geoffrey's marital status?

5. What are Geoffrey's thoughts about when he likes to cross the channel?

(see the answer keys)

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