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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. During the 1930s, what group does Kristeva say was arguing for the status quo?

3. What act of depravity does Kristeva point out that Celine uses in relation with very young girls to revolt his reader?

4. Whose work does Kristeva describe as "stainless, serene" and as having "nostalgic beauty"?

5. Kristeva quotes Celine as saying he is not a man ideas but a man of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Kristeva say Celine seemed to feel about human identities?

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

3. In what ways that Kristeva points out do Celine's writings differ from Jewish ideas?

4. How does Kristeva say Celine displaced the mother in his depiction of very young girls?

5. How does Kristeva say Celine's depictions of females relate to the abject?

6. What does Kristeva mean when she says Celine's language exhibits a fascination with what might be called "binary" speech?

7. What does Kristeva say about how Celine's novels are realistic?

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

9. How does Kristeva say the hatred of Jews act as a metaphor for the abject?

10. Why would Celine's work not be considered abject when he was actively writing them?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the role of Sigmund Freud in the book. How does Kristeva make use of his ideas? How do her ideas relate to his? How are they different? Describe two instances where she explains his view on a subject and expands upon it.

Essay Topic 2

Explore the concept of the abject. How does Kristeva go about explaining what the abject is? Where does the abject come from? What does Kristeva mean when she says it is neither subject nor object? How does she relate her feelings about the abject to the reader? How does she use her personal experiences with these feelings to explain the abject?

Essay Topic 3

What does Kristeva mean when she says abject literature is an unstable category? What qualities does literature have to have to be abject? What is the narrative in abject literature supposed to be like? How does this cause a problem for the writer? How does language cause a problem?

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