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

2. In grotesque realism, the body is most often represented as:
(a) A whole unit, interior merged with exterior.
(b) Several separate units fighting with each other for superiority.
(c) Subordinate to the higher functions of the brain.
(d) A faulty copy of the Divine.

3. According to Bakhtin, Carnival was the true symbol and incarnation of:
(a) The folk festival.
(b) The natural world.
(c) The power of the monarchy.
(d) The sanctity of the Church.

4. "Fat William," of comic folklore, symbolized:
(a) The health risks of obesity.
(b) Bread and wine in bodily form.
(c) The entire body of the people.
(d) Catholicism's huge influence in Europe.

5. 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 legs and the height of the individual.
(d) The throat and the act of swallowing.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Bakhtin interpret Rabelais' work as a response to the hardships of France in 1532?

2. What does Bakhtin assert is evident in Rabelais' use of games that combine play and prophecy?

3. What are examples of that which Bakhtin calls "cosmic terrors"?

4. What actual event probably inspired Rabelais' story of Pantagruel's birth?

5. In Rabelais' novel, the words "to die" are closely associated with:

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Rabelais use the element of popular speech known as "coq-à-l'âne"?

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

5. What is the significance of Friar John's description of the monastery belfry as "fecund"?

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

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

8. What is significant about the language in which Rabelais writes and the sources of many of his words?

9. What is the significance of "cuckoldry," and how is it portrayed?

10. What is the nature of the carnivalesque crowd in Rabelais' novel?

(see the answer keys)

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