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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Bakhtin generally finds Goethe's sense of Carnival's _____________ to agree with his own views.
(a) Pessimism.
(b) Universalism.
(c) Religiousness.
(d) Poetic expression.

2. Bakhtin asserts that the spirit of Carnival is essentially:
(a) One of pessimism and regression.
(b) One of innocence and confusion.
(c) One of immortality and regeneration.
(d) One of dullness and duty.

3. What are the three categories of the "comic" which Bakhtin cites from Schneegans?
(a) The clownish, the burlesque, and the grotesque.
(b) The painted, the sketched, and the acted.
(c) The satiric, the clownish, and the visual.
(d) The grotesque, the ridiculous, and the satiric.

4. What does Rabelais associate closely with the underworld?
(a) Various types of holes.
(b) Mountains and ridges.
(c) Bodily depression after too much feasting.
(d) The depths of the human heart.

5. Why was gaming very important in the Renaissance?
(a) Gaming was deemed sinful and was forbidden by the Church.
(b) Games represented another form of understanding the cycle of life.
(c) Games defined the distinction between social classes.
(d) Gaming reinforced the "official" ways of thinking.

6. What does the etymology of Gargantua's name suggest his name means?
(a) The legs and the height of the individual.
(b) The torso and the mass of the individual.
(c) The throat and the act of swallowing.
(d) The genitals and the act of sexual intercourse.

7. What does Panurge fear if he gets married?
(a) That he will marry an ugly woman.
(b) That he will not be able to have a son.
(c) That his wife will never love him.
(d) That he will eventually be cuckolded.

8. How does Bakhtin define the episode involving Villon and Tappecoue?
(a) As a historical re-enactment.
(b) As an epic drama.
(c) As a comedic interlude.
(d) As a tragic farce.

9. Bakhtin defines the early French work "The Play in the Bower" as a:
(a) Tragedy.
(b) Farce.
(c) Melodrama.
(d) Comic drama.

10. How does Friar John interpret the riddle he and Gargantua hear?
(a) As an indication of his own increasing wealth.
(b) As a representation of a tennis match.
(c) As a promise of winter floods and summer drought.
(d) As a promise of Armageddon and the return of Christ.

11. What in Rabelais' novel is a travesty of Gospel miracles?
(a) Gargantua's glimpse into heaven and dialogue with God.
(b) Panurge's seduction of a local knight's wife.
(c) Friar John's defense of the abbey vineyards and beating of thousands.
(d) Epistemon's resurrection and visions of the underworld.

12. What actual event probably inspired Rabelais' story of Pantagruel's birth?
(a) The French victory of a battle with the Spanish.
(b) An unusual heat wave and drought.
(c) An earthquake which devastated southern France.
(d) A famine resulting from an unusually cold winter.

13. How does Bakhtin define the combination of human and animal organs in Rabelais' novel?
(a) "Scientific."
(b) "Otherworldly."
(c) "Horrifying."
(d) "Grotesque."

14. Gargamelle gives birth to Gargantua as a result of:
(a) Praying for a child.
(b) Eating too much tripe.
(c) A spirit impregnating her.
(d) Casting a spell of birth.

15. "The Treatise of Garcia of Toledo," which Bakhtin cites, is notable for:
(a) Its disregard for the festive tradition.
(b) Its retelling of ancient myths and fables.
(c) Its simple philosophy of religious asceticism.
(d) Its portrayal of the gluttony of the Pope.

Short Answer Questions

1. What body part is most often used in grotesque caricatures of sexual potency?

2. What are the languages involved in what Bakhtin terms the "triple linguistic process" of Rabelais' time?

3. What particular tradition did Peter the Great bring to Russia from Western Europe?

4. What episode does Bakhtin cite as exemplifying the image of the gaping mouth prevalent in Rabelais' novel?

5. How does Gargantua's letter to Pantagruel challenge and attempt to change Catholic dogma?

(see the answer keys)

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