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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is Janotus de Bragmardo?

2. The verbal interactions between the Renaissance marketplace hawker and the crowd were above all:

3. When the grotesque was revived in the Romantic era, what did it react against?

4. Bakhtin considers "thrashing" ambivalent, rather than strictly negative, because:

5. The prologue of _Pantagruel_ is a parody and travesty of:

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Bakhtin interpret the prologue of _Pantagruel_?

3. Describe the Catchpoles and what they symbolize.

4. What are the "cris de Paris," or "street cries"?

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

6. What does Bakhtin mean when he argues that laughter affirms the people's unofficial truth?

7. Why does Bakhtin state that in Rabelais' novel everyday kitchen implements and foods have an intrinsic value?

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

9. What do Rabelais' long lists of names and epithets signify?

10. How is Bakhtin's book "double-voiced," as Michael Holquist asserts it is?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the theme of debasement in Medieval and Renaissance folk culture. How was debasement associated with the lower stratum of the body? Who or what were targets of debasement? How was debasement or degradation accomplished? How is humor associated with debasement? What is the ambivalent nature of debasement in folk culture?

Essay Topic 2

Explain how laughter permeates every aspect of Renaissance folk culture, as Bakhtin argues it does. Cite specific examples from the text regarding the carnivalesque, the grotesque, official/unofficial modes of speech, and the ambivalence of certain forms and causes of laughter. Do these portrayals point to a greater "truth," as Bakhtin would say?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the nature of Medieval and Renaissance popular dramatic forms. On what occasions were performances held? What genre were these performances, and what was their common subject matter? What does Bakhtin mean when he asserts that such performances had no "footlights"? Citing examples from the text, explore the theme of universalism in these dramas.

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