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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was Proust considered to be in the 1920s?
(a) He was an aspiring author.
(b) He was an aspiring lawyer.
(c) A great author.
(d) A bonafide celebrity.

2. Who is Marcel Proust?
(a) A singer.
(b) A historian.
(c) An politician.
(d) The subject of De Botton's book.

3. What was Proust's view towards romance like?
(a) Outgoing.
(b) Pessimistic.
(c) Negative.
(d) Opitimistic.

4. Who wrote Pensees?
(a) Blaze Pascal.
(b) Blaise Pascal.
(c) Pascal Blay.
(d) Blois Pasture.

5. Who is Marquis de Lau?
(a) A well known figure in Spain.
(b) A well known figure in Paris.
(c) A friend of Proust's.
(d) A well known figure in Rome.

6. Who is Kate?
(a) Proust's mother.
(b) De Botton's sister.
(c) Proust's girlfriend.
(d) De Botton's girlfriend.

7. What was Proust allergic to?
(a) Soap.
(b) Cologne and soap.
(c) Soap and shaving cream.
(d) Cologne.

8. What does Proust urge his readers to focus on?
(a) History.
(b) The past.
(c) The present.
(d) The future.

9. What question does De Botton ask after he discusses Proust's father's work?
(a) "To Read or Not to Read"?
(b) "What are the benefits of reading"?
(c) "How Should We Read"?
(d) "If We Should Read"?

10. What did Proust have a fear of?
(a) Heights and falling.
(b) Flying.
(c) Mice and heights.
(d) Mice and cheese.

11. In what year did Proust's father die?
(a) 1906.
(b) 1903.
(c) 1904.
(d) 1908.

12. What would Proust write to his mother and tell her about?
(a) The quality of his stool.
(b) His last writing.
(c) His latest girlfriend.
(d) His most recent friendship.

13. What does the examination of merits of art include in its survey?
(a) The inspiration.
(b) Nothing.
(c) The title of the art.
(d) The artist's bipography.

14. At the beginning of "How Proust Can Change Your Life ; Not a Novel" what was the title of the newspaper De Botton analyzes?
(a) L'Instangeint.
(b) L'Intransigeant.
(c) Le Chronicle.
(d) Le Monde.

15. Who was Proust's father's best selling book written for?
(a) Everyone.
(b) Teenage girls.
(c) Teenage boys.
(d) Mothers.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many years was Proust a librarian for Mazarine library?

2. What does De Botton coin the term of reader's seeing themselves in works of fiction as?

3. What was the title of Proust's novel that gave him international acclaim?

4. What was Proust's father's occupation?

5. When was Proust's father's best selling book published?

(see the answer keys)

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