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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. Kristeva begins Chapter 6 "Celine: Neither Actor Nor Martyr" with a quote from what book?

2. Kristeva quotes Celine as saying slang is a language of what?

3. What is Celine's character Molly's occupation?

4. How does Celine often depict maternal figures?

5. Kristeva begins Chapter 6 "Celine: Neither Actor Nor Martyr" with a quote about what?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. Explain how Kristeva says Celine used grotesque acts in his works.

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

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

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

8. How does Kristeva say Celine captures the abject in his writing?

9. Describe Celine's mother type of character.

10. How, according to Kristeva, do Celine's works draw the reader to their primal repressions?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Discuss the concept of the "zero-state" in young children. What does Kristeva mean when she talks about the zero state? What happens when a child starts to come out of the zero state? What are some of the fears and desires that a young, pre-cognitive child might have? How do the fears and desires sync up with Freud's model of the Oedipal triangle? How do they go against it?

Essay Topic 3

Explore Kristeva's use of the concept of sin. How is the concept of sin relevant to the study of the abject? What differences does Kristeva mention in how sin is referred to in the Old Testament and the New Testament? What does she mean when she says sin in the New Testament is a form of "subjectified abjection"?

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