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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Letters 16 - 50.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the first action Valmont takes to make Madame de Tourvel look favorably upon him?
(a) He disarms a burglar at the estate.
(b) He expresses interest in a position in the Church.
(c) He pays a peasant family's back taxes.
(d) He leaps to his aunt's aid when she falls.

2. How was __Les Liaisons Dangereuses_ treated after the turn of the 20th century?
(a) Readers and critics ignored its existence until ten years ago.
(b) Readers and critics extolled it as the single best novel of the Western hemisphere.
(c) Readers and critics were more likely to praise and study it.
(d) Readers and critics reaffirmed the initial 18th-century response.

3. What does Merteuil call the woman Valmont wishes to seduce?
(a) A hag.
(b) A child.
(c) A prude.
(d) A trollop.

4. Why does Valmont think it possible to seduce this woman?
(a) Her husband is away.
(b) She expressed interest in him.
(c) He already knows she has a weak character.
(d) He seduced her in the past.

5. What does Merteuil tell Cécile when they attend the opera together?
(a) When a woman marries, she must love only her husband.
(b) It is perfectly acceptable to have many lovers at once.
(c) On her wedding night, a young woman must be prepared for certain things.
(d) Marriage is a futile institution that oppresses women.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which place in the social hierarchy did Laclos' family occupy?

2. With which philosophical movement of the 18th century is Laclos associated?

3. Into which main form(s) was __Les Liaisons Dangereuses_ reproduced in the 20th century?

4. What literary tradition does Coward see as applicable?

5. What does Merteuil call Danceny in letter 38?

(see the answer key)

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