View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The core images of the prologue of _Gargantua_ are:
(a) Scenes of violence.
(b) Scenes of eating and drinking.
(c) Scenes of travel and journeys.
(d) Scenes of pious worship.

2. Bakhtin associates Friar John's beating of the men with:
(a) The last charge of Charlemagne.
(b) The Dionysian feast of the grape harvest.
(c) Market vendors who assault non-paying customers.
(d) Juvenalian satires of public figures.

3. With what portion of the body is grotesque debasement most concerned?
(a) The spiritual interior essence.
(b) The arms and legs.
(c) The material lower stratum.
(d) The head and eyes.

4. The combination of solemnity and joking in the tone of the Prologue to the Third Book indicates:
(a) The importance and necessity of laughter.
(b) The complex explanation of the Prologue to the readers.
(c) The confusion the author experiences with this combination.
(d) The opinion that humor must be subordinate to seriousness.

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

6. Bakhtin thinks that life is:
(a) Inert, chaotic, and requiring the intervention of art.
(b) A sacrifice the soul makes to the body.
(c) Organized by human acts of behavior and cognition.
(d) Meaningless and futile.

7. What repressive organization was Bakhtin forced to join in order to continue writing?
(a) The National Writers' Agency.
(b) The Soviet Society of National Fiction.
(c) The Russian Union of Writers.
(d) The Post-Revolution Press

8. How does Rabelais accomplish the grotesque degradation of his target in the prologue to the Third Book?
(a) By declaring the targets to be empty-headed.
(b) By accusing the targets of paganism and crimes against the Church.
(c) By declaring the targets incapable of the basest bodily functions.
(d) By insulting the targets' mothers.

9. What work of literature is parodied in the prologue of _Gargantua_?
(a) Malory's _Le Morte d'Arthur_
(b) Plato's _Symposium_
(c) Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_
(d) Dante's _Divine Comedy_

10. Why, according to Bakhtin, is Rabelais' parody of the Church not considered heresy?
(a) The clergy paid no attention to Rabelais' works.
(b) Rabelais maintains a comic style, so no one could mistake him for being serious.
(c) The Church received an annual tribute from Rabelais, so it overlooked his parodies.
(d) Rabelais follows every criticism with heartfelt praise.

11. According to Bakhtin, what is the function of art?
(a) To be sold for money or services.
(b) To communicate meaningful messages.
(c) To glorify the artist.
(d) To be beautiful in and of itself.

12. What are the targets of the abusive language in Rabelais' prologue to the Third Book?
(a) Members of the aristocracy whose political ideals are not in keeping with Rabelais' ideals.
(b) Representatives of old, hypocritical, serious Medieval philosophy.
(c) Foreign travelers who have offended the traditions of Carnival.
(d) Average townsfolk who have imbibed too much wine.

13. Rabelais expresses the debasement of suffering and fear by associating them with:
(a) Religious fervor.
(b) Hunger.
(c) Sexual intercourse.
(d) Defecation.

14. How is the Rabelaisian use of tripe an excellent example of grotesque realism?
(a) It merges the positive and negative, or upper and lower, spheres of the body.
(b) It is a drug which offers the user a glimpse of a higher plane of existence.
(c) It is the epitome of disgusting.
(d) It combines fantasy with reality in one type of cuisine.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When the grotesque was revived in the Romantic era, what did it react against?

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

3. To what does Bakhtin compare the various cries of Paris?

4. Medieval parodies were:

5. Why did Renaissance humanists attempt to suppress oaths and profanities?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 712 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample