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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Geoffrey ask Ed about the content of the letters?
(a) He asks if the letters proved Flaubert and Julie Herbert had an affair.
(b) He asked if Julie wrote about her children.
(c) He asked if Flaubert used the letters as the basis for any of his stories.
(d) He asks if Flaubert discussed death in his letters.

2. The third list in the chronology consists of what?
(a) Flaubert's thoughts through the years.
(b) Flaubert's love affairs.
(c) Flaubert's death.
(d) Flaubert's correspondence.

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

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

5. What was the unusual characteristic of the sheep whose owner Flaubert took to dinner?
(a) It bleated with a melody-like sound.
(b) It had five legs.
(c) It had a human-like face.
(d) It was blind.

6. What particular criticism does Starkie have of Flaubert's characterization of Madame Bovary?
(a) She says that her temperament does not suit her actions.
(b) She says that he gives her differing eye colors in different chapters.
(c) She says that there is no clear physical descriptiion in the book.
(d) He says that her eyes saw all when it was obvious she was often unaware.

7. Flaubert's ideas in the third section of the chronology are expressed through which literary device?
(a) Hyperbole.
(b) Metaphors.
(c) Literary allusion.
(d) Personification.

8. What is Geoffrey's marital status?
(a) Married.
(b) Single.
(c) Divorced.
(d) Widowed.

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

10. For what reason does Geoffrey read Flaubert?
(a) For research on the time period.
(b) For self-examination.
(c) For pleasure.
(d) For improving his own writing.

11. For what reason does Geoffrey say that he does not like coincidences?
(a) Because he feels that coincidences rob people of their sense of control.
(b) Because he agrees with Flaubert's opinion on the subject.
(c) Because he prefers to feel that life is chaotic.
(d) Because coincidences make him feel uncomfortable.

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

13. What happened after the dragoman lost his Scottish terrier?
(a) Flaubert bought the dragoman another Scottish terrier.
(b) The dragoman barked like a dog and the terrier answered back.
(c) The dragoman asked Flaubert if he could have Flaubert's dog.
(d) The dragoman looked for the dog for the rest of his life.

14. Who is Humbert?
(a) The lawyer hired by Flaubert in Rouen.
(b) The translator who travels with Flaubert and Du Camp.
(c) The Russian guide who took Flaubert to the top of the Great Pyramid.
(d) The name of a Nabokov character who seduced young girls.

15. Why does Geoffrey say that we cannot know everything about the past?
(a) Because much of history has never been written down.
(b) Because it would confuse us.
(c) Because it would be impossible to take in everything.
(d) Because historians have conflicting ideas about the past.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who was Loulou?

2. Flaubert, who didn't believe in progress, thought that democracy made people what?

3. About a year after their first meeting, Geoffrey agrees to meet with Ed for what reason?

4. What mistake did Enid Starkie make when she published her biography of Flaubert?

5. What does Flaubert find when he gets to the top of the Great Pyramid?

(see the answer keys)

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