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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 6, Chapter 2 - Language of the Marketplace Cont..

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Mikhail Bakhtin is:
(a) A somewhat mysterious but increasingly interesting literary figure.
(b) The most famous Russian writer ever.
(c) A vocal Eastern Orthodox cleric.
(d) A fictional figure created to be the mouthpiece of an anonymous author.

2. What was the reception of Rabelais' work in the eighteenth century?
(a) Other writers strove to emulate his style.
(b) His work was viewed as a revival of Classical writing.
(c) His work was viewed as unintelligible and barbaric.
(d) Other writers used his topics as a jumping-off point for their own works.

3. In the folklore and grotesque realism of Rabelais' works, excrement represents bodies and matter that are:
(a) Mostly comic.
(b) Generally revered.
(c) Frightening and terrible.
(d) One with the earth.

4. Why did Bakhtin feel his times were comparable to those of the Renaissance?
(a) Both eras were times of broad social change that left people unsure of how to proceed.
(b) Two political leaders of the different eras were incredibly alike.
(c) The specific threat of disease was killing many people in both times.
(d) The literatures and cultures of both eras bore a distinct resemblance.

5. Bakhtin connects Medieval "seriousness" most closely to:
(a) Fear, weakness, and violence.
(b) Inspiration and hope.
(c) Feasting, spectacles, and sex.
(d) Scholarly activities.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are the "intelligentsia"?

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

3. What style does Bakhtin find the prologue of _Pantagruel_ to be written in?

4. What in particular forms the basic elements of Rabelais' novel _Gargantua_?

5. According to Bakhtin, what is the function of art?

(see the answer key)

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