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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 9, Chapter 3 - Popular-Festive Forms.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are the targets of the abusive language in Rabelais' prologue to the Third Book?
(a) Representatives of old, hypocritical, serious Medieval philosophy.
(b) Foreign travelers who have offended the traditions of Carnival.
(c) Members of the aristocracy whose political ideals are not in keeping with Rabelais' ideals.
(d) Average townsfolk who have imbibed too much wine.

2. Why are Rabelais' billingsgate elements considered "coarse and cynical" by most scholars?
(a) The Latin derivations of his scatological vocabulary mean "cynical."
(b) Many scholars interpret them only in a modern context.
(c) Many scholars believe that Rabelais himself was bitter from publication disputes.
(d) These elements express a deep distrust of contemporary society.

3. Bakhtin asserts that in the episode of Gargantua's birth, the dividing lines between _______ are erased.
(a) Human and animal consciousness.
(b) Earthly and divine spiritual relationships.
(c) Human and animal organs.
(d) Children and adults.

4. What common fifteenth- and sixteenth-century literary device does Bakhtin identify in the Prologue to the Third Book?
(a) Invocations to the Muse.
(b) Long lists of names and epithets.
(c) Blank verse.
(d) Complaints about love.

5. How is the figure of the king treated in Rabelais' writing?
(a) Like a criminal: charged, tried, and punished.
(b) Like a child: pampered, sheltered, and beloved.
(c) Like a clown: beaten, travestied, and transformed.
(d) Like a god: worshipped, feared, and obeyed.

Short Answer Questions

1. The episode in which Pantagruel and his companions defeat King Anarchus' knights combines:

2. Which answer best describes "grotesque realism"?

3. What do oaths and curses have in common with town announcements and the calls of vendors?

4. Why, according to Bakhtin, does Rabelais treat excrement ambivalently?

5. Why did Bakhtin feel his times were comparable to those of the Renaissance?

(see the answer key)

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