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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. Goethe traces the roots of Carnival to the:
2. The principle of "negation" in popular-festive imagery is always:
3. Bakhtin asserts that Rabelais' grotesque conception of the body reflected:
4. Bakhtin asserts that man introduces the world to himself primarily through which act?
5. What Renaissance series of works was highly influential to Rabelais' notion of the grotesque body?
Short Essay Questions
1. What was "prandial libertinism"?
2. Which elements of Villon and Tappecoue's (Ticklepecker's) episode make it a "tragic farce"?
3. Describe the figure of "Gros Guillaume" and his significance to Rabelais' novel.
4. What is significant about the language in which Rabelais writes and the sources of many of his words?
5. What is "cosmic fear," and how is it treated in Renaissance folk culture?
6. Why does Bakhtin assert that we cannot make the mistake of interpreting Rabelais' images of the material body lower stratum with our modern sensibilities?
7. How do the Medieval and Renaissance pictures of the cosmos differ?
8. Why is the "Hippocratic Anthology" significant to Rabelais' work?
9. What did the Medieval stage resemble?
10. Why are eating and drinking two of the most important manifestations of the grotesque body?
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
Examine the structure, the presence, and the purpose of the Foreword and the Prologue. What do they offer to the reader? What is the purpose of a foreword or a prologue--what is the function of writing an introduction to someone else's book? Can, or do, such prefatory remarks influence the reader's experience of the text? Can reading ever be a "pure" activity with no outside influence of opinion?
Essay Topic 3
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?
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This section contains 1,007 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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