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

2. How is the Rabelaisian use of tripe an excellent example of grotesque realism?

3. What are the "Catchpoles" of which Rabelais writes?

4. What were "street cries"?

5. In Rabelais' time, why was the meaning of debasement often ambivalent?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. How does Bakhtin interpret the prologue of _Pantagruel_?

4. What was Bakhtin's relationship with the Russian Union of Writers?

5. What about the episode of the Lord of Basche is carnivalesque?

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

7. How does Bakhtin get around the prohibition of certain kinds of satire and irony in his own time?

8. What does tripe represent, in Bakhtin's analysis?

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

10. What was Rabelais' relationship with the fairs based upon?

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

Explore Bakhtin's study of language in Rabelais. What is "vernacular" or "colloquial" language? How is it different from "official" languages, like that of the Church or of the monarchy? How is verbal communication different from written communication, and who or what does each type of communication serve? How does Rabelais keep his language lively and never dull? How does Rabelais transform names, nicknames, proper nouns, and all other forms of speech?

(see the answer keys)

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