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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do feminists embrace the work of Jacques Lacan, despite the fact that he was contemptuous of the women's movement?
(a) Because Lacan embraced Freudianism.
(b) Because Lacan taught Freudianism.
(c) Because Lacan rewrote Freudianism.
(d) Because Lacan rejected Freudianism.

2. What is the "final logical move" for literary theory, according to Eagleton?
(a) To subjugate literature for its own ends.
(b) To recognize that it is an illusion.
(c) To distance itself from the text.
(d) To privatize theory for the general public.

3. According to Eagleton, why is Sigmund Freud's discussion of women problematic?
(a) Because of his troubling personal relationships.
(b) Because of his glorification of men in his work.
(c) Because of his sexist and demeaning attitudes toward women.
(d) Because of his refusal to discuss women in his work.

4. The modern history of literary theory has been characterized by a flight from what?
(a) Real history.
(b) Shifting ideas.
(c) Absolute morality.
(d) False doctrines.

5. According to Eagleton, "the tactic of _________criticism ... is to show how texts come to embarrass their own ruling systems of logic."
(a) Post-structuralist.
(b) Feminist.
(c) Deconstructive.
(d) Psychoanalytic.

Short Answer Questions

1. The English philosopher J. L. Austin saw language as what?

2. What is one problem of adopting a plurality of critical methods, for Eagleton?

3. According to Eagleton, what is the oldest form of literary criticism?

4. According to Eagleton, structuralism exposed what "shocking truth"?

5. According to Eagleton, structuralism has proved that there is nothing _____ about codes.

Short Essay Questions

1. Who developed semiotics and what was his contribution to literary theory?

2. According to Sigmund Freud, what are the two conflicting principles that all people are motivated by and why is it significant?

3. What is significant about the ways in which Sigmund Freud treated women and men?

4. What is Sigmund Freud's Oedipus complex and why is it significant?

5. What is multiple pluralism and why does Eagleton object to it?

6. Beyond helping the status of women, what is the women's movement's goal and why is it significant?

7. How did Mikhail Bakhtin view language?

8. According to Eagleton, why should rhetorical science replace literary theory and what is its objective?

9. How did post-structuralism develop and why is it significant?

10. During the 1960s and 1970s why did feminist scholars reject Marxist thought on the left?

(see the answer keys)

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