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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4, Chapter 2 - The Language of the Marketplace.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What was unique about the Russian Revolution?
(a) It continues into the present day.
(b) It was purely a religious revolt.
(c) People of all classes and occupations were centrally involved.
(d) Only the elite class was involved.

3. How does Bakhtin define the novel?
(a) As a worthless type of literature.
(b) As a multiplicity of styles.
(c) As a work of pure imagination.
(d) As a single-voiced text.

4. Which answer best describes "grotesque realism"?
(a) The tone of the writing is always dark, Gothic, and depressing.
(b) The writing must strive to be as mathematically or geometrically accurate as possible in its descriptions.
(c) The bodily element is universal, celebratory, positive, and exaggerated.
(d) The author's focus must be on bodily gore, blood, death, and dying.

5. Did the "unofficial" and "official" forms of speech ever coincide?
(a) Yes, except for religious holidays.
(b) No, except during times of war.
(c) Yes, especially during festivals.
(d) No, both forms of speech were highly regulated.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which twentieth-century movement was the grotesque especially evident?

2. What repressive organization was Bakhtin forced to join in order to continue writing?

3. Mikhail Bakhtin is:

4. What do some critics argue has been absent from Russian literature?

5. How did the French Romanticists respond to Rabelais' works?

(see the answer key)

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