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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What word used in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 11 means to give a false or misleading appearance to, or to conceal the truth?
(a) Vorarbeiter.
(b) Pedantic.
(c) Fatigue.
(d) Dissemble.

2. Where does Malan suggest Olin visit “the old Franciscan cathedral and have a look at its modern stained-glass window” in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 13?
(a) Treblinka.
(b) Romania.
(c) Cracow.
(d) Palestine.

3. As Olin attempts to make sense of the transcendent experience of the dancing in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 11, the narrator says, “Out on that platform at odd moments of each day, a presence had risen that, for want of a better term, [Olin] calls” what in his journal?
(a) “Alienation of the affections.”
(b) “Earth apprehension.”
(c) “Supreme understanding.”
(d) “Collective consciousness.”

4. What word from Part II: “In the Ogre’s Cave,” Chapter 6 means characterized by bitter or scornful derision?
(a) Sardonic.
(b) Pedantic.
(c) Pernicious.
(d) Ecumenical.

5. How old does the narrator say Tadeusz Borowski was in 1948 when his death camp narrative made him famous, in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 13?
(a) 35.
(b) 29.
(c) 33.
(d) 25.

6. When did Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
(a) 1962.
(b) 1981.
(c) 1992.
(d) 1970.

7. When was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn born?
(a) 1932.
(b) 1922.
(c) 1918.
(d) 1941.

8. What Zen poet is described by Ben Lama in Part IV: “In Paradise,” Chapter 16 as having written of a “glad willingness to exchange the most magnificent metaphor about the sea for the immediacy, the pure reality, or one splash of cold surf full in the face”?
(a) Ryokan.
(b) Rilke.
(c) Master Dogen.
(d) Hanz Frank.

9. What “confession” does Olin make before the other retreat attendees at the meditation meeting in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 14?
(a) He divorced his wife because she was Jewish.
(b) His father was an SS officer.
(c) His mother was Jewish.
(d) His uncle was Adolf Hitler.

10. What is the name of Rainer’s uncle that he says he’s come to Auschwitz to honor in Part II: “In the Ogre’s Cave,” Chapter 7?
(a) Lublin.
(b) Werner.
(c) Stefan.
(d) Milan.

11. What Zen master is cited in Part IV: “In Paradise,” Chapter 16 as having written, “All the Universe is one bright pearl. What need is there to understand it?”
(a) Master Dogen.
(b) Master Levi.
(c) Master Ryokan.
(d) Master Appelfeld.

12. Father Mikal implies in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 13 that the mother-superior warned him that who had brought malicious gossip from their diocese to the retreat?
(a) Sister Catherine.
(b) Sister Christina.
(c) Sister Sarah.
(d) Sister Ann-Marie.

13. What is the name of the priest that accompanies the two Catholic novices at the retreat?
(a) Father James.
(b) Father David.
(c) Father Mikal.
(d) Father Thompson.

14. Who does Olin describe in Part IV: “In Paradise,” Chapter 16 as having “celebrated that vital joy in his atavistic impulse to devour the raw heart of a deer that is slain bare-handed”?
(a) Henry David Thoreau.
(b) Walt Whitman.
(c) Samuel Beckett.
(d) Percy Shelley.

15. When is the bus said to be departing for Cracow from the concentration camp in Part IV: “In Paradise,” Chapter 15?
(a) Late evening.
(b) Early evening.
(c) Midday.
(d) Early morning.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who informs Olin in Part III: “Dancing at Auschwitz,” Chapter 14 that she has tracked down a former patient of Dr. Allgeier’s who later worked as a camp guard?

2. Where does the bus drop off G. Earwig in the opening of Part IV: “In Paradise,” Chapter 16?

3. What word from Part II: “In the Ogre’s Cave,” Chapter 6 refers to a person who is friendly to or admires England or English customs, etc.?

4. Who is described in Part II: “In the Ogre’s Cave,” Chapter 10 as the lone Ostjude survivor among those at the retreat?

5. Who is described as “Becca’s companion, a violinist with long black hair” in Part II: “In the Ogre’s Cave,” Chapter 7?

(see the answer keys)

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