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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What measures did the Tsar take to assert his values?
(a) He gave serfs and women the right to vote.
(b) He imprisoned his former supporters.
(c) He declared martial law.
(d) He repressed all signs of dissent and unorthodoxy.

2. How did authors fare in the mid-nineteenth-century Russian literary scene?
(a) They published in underground magazines and pamphlets.
(b) They could publish their work, but sometimes had to be vague about their political meanings.
(c) They were free to publish political commentary and opinions without persecution.
(d) They had difficulty getting their work into print, because the censors were so strict.

3. How does Berlin describe progressive Romanticism?
(a) Progressive Romantics believed that progress was going to come from industry and social reforms.
(b) Progressive Romantics believed that intellectuals were responsible for the soul of the nation.
(c) Progressive Romantics believed that society was inevitably moving forward.
(d) Progressive Romantics believed that serfs would free themselves through violence.

4. How was the period that followed the Tsar's acts known?
(a) A period of tolerance.
(b) A period of repression.
(c) A period of prosperity.
(d) A period of terror.

5. What does Berlin say was the "French" attitude toward the arts?
(a) Moral faults in the artist do not affect the artwork.
(b) Artists are prophets whose lives are instructive to the masses.
(c) Artists are the saviors and redeemers of culture.
(d) Artists are only legitimate if they are bohemian: sloppy and irresponsible.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the relationship between literature and politics in mid-nineteenth century Russia?

2. What idea captured the imagination of the Russian intelligentsia?

3. What, according to Berlin, did Tolstoy see as futile?

4. What was Tolstoy's relationship with Joseph de Maistre?

5. How does Berlin describe the state of Russian culture in the mid-1800s?

Short Essay Questions

1. What conspiracy group did the Second of April Committee unveil, and what was the result of the trial?

2. What did "intelligentsia" mean in Russia, where the term was coined?

3. What was the effect of the "moral quarantine" of Western ideas in Russia?

4. What example does Tolstoy use to explain why human beings cannot know all the actions and causes that affect their experiences?

5. What do foxes and hedgehogs represent in Archilochus' adage, and how does Berlin apply the distinction to Russian thinkers?

6. What was Annenkov's role in the circle of Russian Intelligentsia?

7. What was Leo Tolstoy's as a thinker, and how does Berlin see him?

8. What was the heart of the Romantic notion that held the Russian intelligentsia in Germany's influence?

9. Whose writings had Russian intellectuals and writers primarily been influenced by?

10. What influence did censors have on Russian intellectuals and literature?

(see the answer keys)

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