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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. "Friar John" is heavily associated with:
(a) Food and battles.
(b) Sex and love.
(c) Intellect and spirit.
(d) Nature and the earth.

2. Carnival allowed:
(a) The upper class to oppress relentlessly the lower class.
(b) The mixing of real and unreal, fantasy and fact.
(c) The endurance of the propriety expected of all social classes.
(d) The peasants to sell their crops without paying taxes.

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

4. How does the Lord of Basche contrive to bring Catchpoles to his castle?
(a) By offering people absolution from their sins.
(b) By celebrating mock weddings.
(c) By celebrating Mass.
(d) By giving away his possessions.

5. What was unique about the Russian Revolution?
(a) People of all classes and occupations were centrally involved.
(b) It was purely a religious revolt.
(c) It continues into the present day.
(d) Only the elite class was involved.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Medieval parodies were:

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

4. In the Renaissance, bodily excretions were closely associated with:

5. What was the most prevalent medium of the culture of the common folk in the Renaissance?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Rabelais' relationship with the fairs based upon?

2. What is important about the figure of the physician in Rabelais' novel?

3. How does Bakhtin interpret the prologue of _Pantagruel_?

4. Why does the speaker of the prologue of the Third Book invite only good men to drink?

5. Describe the Renaissance student writings.

6. What does Rabelais parody with the character of Janotus de Bragmardo?

7. Describe Friar John.

8. Describe the Catchpoles and what they symbolize.

9. Why do modern readers find it difficult to read Rabelais' novel?

10. What about the episode of the Lord of Basche is carnivalesque?

(see the answer keys)

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