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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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.

2. What event that Rabelais relates does he assert is the origin of the name of the city of Paris?
(a) A battle won by the French against the English.
(b) Pantagruel's education in the druggists' shops.
(c) Gargantua's drenching of the city in urine.
(d) An earthquake that disrupts Carnival.

3. In the Prologue of the Third Book, to which contemporary events does Rabelais allude?
(a) The defeat of the French and Spanish fleets by Admiral Nelson.
(b) The defense of France against Charles V.
(c) The Norman Invasion.
(d) The Black Death.

4. How are abusive and praiseful words reflective of grotesque realism?
(a) The words are spoken in a language the listener cannot understand, so they sound like gibberish.
(b) The words reflect incompatible sides of certain social classes of people.
(c) The words combine two sides of the same form or feeling into an ambivalent but cohesive social structure.
(d) The words are carefully chosen by the speaker to disgust the listener.

5. What are examples of carnivalesque victims?
(a) Blushing virgins and old maids.
(b) Stray dogs and street orphans.
(c) Peasants and tax collectors.
(d) Debased clowns and slaughtered oxen.

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

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

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

9. What do Rabelais' various works indicate about the popular notion of urination?
(a) Urination is a medical mystery that baffles doctors.
(b) Urination can only be used for comic purposes.
(c) Urination fertilizes the earth and creates bodies of water.
(d) Urination is disgusting and should be done privately.

10. Rabelais' description of Alcibiades reflects:
(a) The good/evil dichotomy of mankind.
(b) The abuse/praise dynamics of the marketplace.
(c) The idea that ancient philosophies were incorrect.
(d) The image of Rabelais himself.

11. What are the "Catchpoles" of which Rabelais writes?
(a) Animals sent into the wild as sacrifices.
(b) People who earn money by allowing others to beat them.
(c) Materials used to build large meeting-houses.
(d) Vegetables which require being strung to a pole in order to grow.

12. Why does Friar John beat thousands of men in his abbey?
(a) To save France from atheism.
(b) Another Friar challenged him.
(c) As a show of force to deter invaders.
(d) To save the abbey's vineyards.

13. In the seventeenth century, the decline of laughter as a primary force in folk culture resulted from:
(a) The exhaustion of any new sources of humor.
(b) The declining number of Carnival performers.
(c) An increasingly "official" culture of rationalism.
(d) The need of the public for other forms of diversion.

14. What was the most prevalent medium of the culture of the common folk in the Renaissance?
(a) Semaphore signals.
(b) Pantomime.
(c) Printed newspapers.
(d) The spoken word.

15. What were "street cries"?
(a) The shouted, versified advertisements of market vendors.
(b) The calls of the city bellringer telling the time.
(c) The warnings people yell when they throw the contents of their chamber pot out the window.
(d) The sobs of orphans who live on the street.

Short Answer Questions

1. How, according to Bakhtin, does the current Russian literary criticism approach Rabelais' works?

2. Bakhtin asserts that beatings, death, feasting, and merrymaking are all integral parts of:

3. Which answer best describes "grotesque realism"?

4. Why does Bakhtin consider oaths, curses, and profanities elements of freedom?

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

(see the answer keys)

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