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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. What does the "form" of any kind of art express?

2. In the Prologue of the Third Book, to which contemporary events does Rabelais allude?

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

4. What does young Gargantua study in order to become acquainted with the common folk?

5. Bakhtin associates Friar John's beating of the men with:

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is the underlying nature of all of Rabelais' images?

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

5. What is Bakhtin's general idea about the purpose of art?

6. What do Bakhtin's examples of Rabelais' tales of extraordinary urination have in common?

7. Describe the Catchpoles and what they symbolize.

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

9. Describe Friar John.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the meaning and significance of "grotesque realism." How is it manifested in Rabelais' time? How is the material body presented in the tradition of the grotesque? Why does Bakhtin connect folk culture so closely with the grotesque? Use examples from the text to support your points.

Essay Topic 2

What connections do Bakhtin and the authors of the Foreword and the Prologue draw between Bakhtin and Rabelais? How were their lives and times similar? What common themes are evident in their writing? In which important ways do they differ?

Essay Topic 3

How does Rabelais use myth in his work? What types of myth does he draw from (classical, popular, spiritual, etc.)? How are allusions to mythology a part of carnivalesque culture? Cite at least three specific examples of identifiable myths which Rabelais alludes to, alters, parodies, travesties, or repeats.

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