View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 15, Chapter 6 - Images of the Material Bodily Lower Stratum.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Bakhtin interpret Rabelais' term "agelast"?
(a) It is an elderly person whose grouchy moods isolate him/her.
(b) It is a person who is hostile to laughter or who does not know how to laugh.
(c) It is the person who brings up the rear of the great Carnival parade.
(d) It is a person who delights in causing pain to others.

2. Why was Rabelais linked so closely to the Lyon fairs?
(a) Lyon fairs represented one of the largest markets for publishing.
(b) Rabelais was a performing clown for several years in these fairs.
(c) The organizers of the fairs in Lyon banned Rabelais from attending them.
(d) Rabelais was a chief organizer of these fairs.

3. "Fat William," of comic folklore, symbolized:
(a) Bread and wine in bodily form.
(b) The health risks of obesity.
(c) Catholicism's huge influence in Europe.
(d) The entire body of the people.

4. According to Bakhtin, Carnival was the true symbol and incarnation of:
(a) The folk festival.
(b) The natural world.
(c) The power of the monarchy.
(d) The sanctity of the Church.

5. Bakhtin notes that two of the most commonly combined themes in Medieval popular literature relating to monks are:
(a) Piety and cruelty.
(b) Envy and greed.
(c) Sex and death.
(d) Gluttony and desire.

Short Answer Questions

1. How, according to Bakhtin, does the current Russian literary criticism approach Rabelais' works?

2. How does Bakhtin define "folly" as it relates to festivity?

3. During Bakhtin's time, what genre was being closely defined by the Soviet government?

4. What work of literature is parodied in the prologue of _Gargantua_?

5. What common fifteenth- and sixteenth-century literary device does Bakhtin identify in the Prologue to the Third Book?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 338 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample