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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. How did the French Romanticists respond to Rabelais' works?
(a) With an appreciation of, and interest in, the grotesque.
(b) They ignored Rabelais completely.
(c) With disgust and negative criticism.
(d) With complete understanding of Medieval and Renaissance culture.

2. What do some critics argue has been absent from Russian literature?
(a) Political dissent.
(b) A particularly Western type of humor.
(c) Religious fervor.
(d) Sexually-charged dialogue.

3. To what does Veselovsky compare Rabelais?
(a) An elderly scholar.
(b) An ironfisted dictator.
(c) A pious priest.
(d) A village boy.

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

5. When did the Russian Revolution occur?
(a) 1850.
(b) 1936.
(c) 1945.
(d) 1917.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why are Rabelais' billingsgate elements considered "coarse and cynical" by most scholars?

2. What does Bakhtin find to be the greatest error other critics make in their studies of Rabelais' works?

3. In Rabelais' time, why was the meaning of debasement often ambivalent?

4. According to Bakhtin's semiotic understanding, what irony is inherent within the creative power of language?

5. What is "man's second nature," according to Renaissance Christian doctrine?

(see the answer key)

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