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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. How does Celine often depict maternal figures?
(a) As violent.
(b) As loving.
(c) As bored.
(d) As sexual.

2. Chapter 9 "Ours to Jew or Die" begins with a quote that was taken from a letter written to whom?
(a) Sigmund Freud.
(b) Milton Hindus.
(c) Charles Reznikoff.
(d) Sholem Asch.

3. Celine was of what nationality?
(a) Italian.
(b) French.
(c) German.
(d) American.

4. Who said that a fictional theme is a "blasting of self-hood"?
(a) René Descartes.
(b) Henri Bergson.
(c) Georges Bataille.
(d) Emmanuel Lévinas.

5. Kristeva says Celine is the first to realize that emotional depths are revealed by what?
(a) Salvation.
(b) Death.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Melody.

Short Answer Questions

1. Kristeva says that the reader is thrown into what kind of state when reading Celine?

2. How does Celine often depict very young female characters?

3. According to Kristeva, Celine's language exhibits a fascination with what kind of speech?

4. Kristeva says that today's universe is divided between boredom, abjection, and what?

5. Chapter 8 "Those Females Who Wreck the Infinite" begins with a quote by whom?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kristeva mean when she says Celine is neither actor nor martyr?

2. Describe Celine's mother type of character.

3. Why might Kristeva say many of Celine's stylistic choices be called anti-linguistic or anti-grammatical?

4. How did Celine use strong women in his works?

5. Why does Kristeva say that in Germany, even when Jews were seriously persecuted, they were punished with an increased vigor?

6. Why does Kristeva say it makes sense that Celine would say his style was the most important part of his writing?

7. How did Celine seem to feel about the French language and the English language?

8. Why does Kristeva say it is rash to ignore any value one might find in the Anti-Semitism in Celine's work?

9. How does Kristeva say Celine's work represents the division caused by economic inequality?

10. What does Kristeva say makes literature "abject"?

(see the answer keys)

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