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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 an epic drama.
(c) As a tragic farce.
(d) As a comedic interlude.

2. What does Bakhtin assert is evident in Rabelais' use of games that combine play and prophecy?
(a) A ponderous, scholarly approach to the study of history.
(b) A carnivalesque conception of the historical process.
(c) A highly spiritual notion of the relevance of human history.
(d) A disregard for the importance of historical figures.

3. What significant thing did translators of Rabelais' work add to their translations?
(a) Editorial remarks in the form of footnotes.
(b) Critical inquiry of the validity of Rabelais' portrayal of marketplace culture.
(c) Lists of games played in their own countries.
(d) Lists of street cries common in their own countries.

4. In Rabelais' novel, the words "to die" are closely associated with:
(a) Being eaten or swallowed up.
(b) Sexual fulfillment.
(c) Passing out after drinking too much wine.
(d) Losing a debate with a scholar.

5. According to Bakhtin, how did Rabelais invent many of the locales and characters in his novel?
(a) He abused drugs and wrote down his hallucinations.
(b) He traveled much and met many people.
(c) He wrote many letters asking friends for ideas.
(d) He rewrote stories from his childhood.

Short Answer Questions

1. Bakhtin notes that two of the most commonly combined themes in Medieval popular literature relating to monks are:

2. Bakhtin asserts that man introduces the world to himself primarily through which act?

3. To what are "swabs" most closely related?

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

5. Bakhtin discusses "Cyprian's Supper," which is a play about:

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Bakhtin choose to relate Goethe to Rabelais' work?

3. What did the Medieval stage resemble?

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

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

6. What does Bakhtin mean when he writes that popular-festive carnivalesque performances have no "footlights"?

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

8. Which elements of Villon and Tappecoue's (Ticklepecker's) episode make it a "tragic farce"?

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

10. How does Rabelais construct the episode of Epistemon's resurrection and of his visions in the underworld?

(see the answer keys)

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