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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. Which aspect of Renaissance culture does Bakhtin stress is still apparent in Western society today?

2. How does Bakhtin define the episode involving Villon and Tappecoue?

3. How does Friar John interpret the riddle he and Gargantua hear?

4. What is the image of woman in the Renaissance popular comic tradition?

5. "Fat William," of comic folklore, symbolized:

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What did the Medieval stage resemble?

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

6. Why are eating and drinking two of the most important manifestations of the grotesque body?

7. Why is the "Hippocratic Anthology" significant to Rabelais' work?

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

9. What is the significance of the two Russian eras of history to which Bakhtin refers in Chapter Three?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the importance of Rabelais' own historical context to his novel. How does he allude to, reinterpret, parody/travesty, or otherwise address contemporary people, places, and events? Cite at least two examples from Bakhtin's study.

Essay Topic 2

What is significant about the marketplace in the Renaissance? What is its relation to folk culture? How are social relationships conducted in the environment of the marketplace? How are the "street cries" significant aspects of folk culture? What other "unofficial" elements of communication, social commentary, and social interaction are especially prevalent in the marketplace? Are there any carnivalesque elements of the marketplace?

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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