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

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

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

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

5. Why did Hippocrates assert such an influence on Rabelais?
(a) The theme of religious fervor in his works.
(b) All his works were set in the marketplace.
(c) Hippocrates' exclusive emphasis on folk culture.
(d) The theme of the grotesque body in his works.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. Why does Bakhtin cite Goethe as a source about the nature of Carnival?

4. In the Fourth Book, why does Villon set a trap for Tappecoue (or "Ticklepecker")?

5. Bakhtin generally finds Goethe's sense of Carnival's _____________ to agree with his own views.

Short Essay Questions

1. How do the Medieval and Renaissance pictures of the cosmos differ?

2. What is the connection between the banquet and speech?

3. How does Rabelais strengthen the exaggerated themes of his grotesque realism?

4. How does Rabelais respond to the geographical changes of his own time and world?

5. What did the Medieval stage resemble?

6. Why does Bakhtin assert that we cannot make the mistake of interpreting Rabelais' images of the material body lower stratum with our modern sensibilities?

7. Why does the logic of the grotesque ignore the closed surfaces of the body?

8. How did games and gaming change after the Renaissance?

9. Describe the figure of "Gros Guillaume" and his significance to Rabelais' novel.

10. Briefly describe the two opposing lines of thought in the "querelle des femmes."

(see the answer keys)

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