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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. Clowns and fools are:
(a) Everyday representatives of the folk and of Carnival.
(b) Prisoners forced to entertain others.
(c) Present only at large fairs or gatherings.
(d) Restricted to entertaining the royal court.

2. After Rabelais' time, the use of laughter in literature and culture moved in which direction?
(a) From singular to universal.
(b) From accepted to encouraged.
(c) From spiritual to earthly.
(d) From universal to restricted.

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

4. According to Bakhtin's semiotic understanding, what irony is inherent within the creative power of language?
(a) Language does not actually express anything.
(b) No word can actually ever be defined.
(c) All languages are one.
(d) The individual expresses him- or herself only through the words of others.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why was Rabelais linked so closely to the Lyon fairs?

2. The purpose of "travesty" in folk festivals was to:

3. With what is "folk culture" most concerned?

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

5. Bakhtin thinks that life is:

(see the answer key)

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