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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 is taking place in Moscow in November?

2. What does the leader tell the Alans?

3. What happens when Boris says that one of the monks is guilty of heresy?

4. Who is Arina?

5. What is Russia known as under Ivan?

Short Essay Questions

1. What has changed since the scenes set in 180 AD?

2. Describe the opposition between Ivan and his brother.

3. Describe the controversy over the icons in Russka.

4. What kind of political alliance does Milei suggest, and why does this injure Yanka?

5. What is the Schism?

6. What problem is Boris Bobrov having with his estate and how does he solve it?

7. How have conditions changed by 1066 AD?

8. Describe the political state of Russia in 1262.

9. What is the nature of the political system in 1067?

10. Describe Yanka's pregnancy and marriage.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How would Rutherfurd describe history, do you think? How could another writer have written a story that covered the same time period, but told it with a different focus or emphasis?

Essay Topic 2

What is the price of historical progress as Russia develops from the 1600s to the 1900s? What is gained? What is given up, or lost? For example, is brutality the price of progress, as under Tsar Peter? Was culture lost as Russia Westernized?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the importance of change in "Russka". Does the novel describe long-term development? Does it describe the unfolding of a national personality over 1,800 years? How does it treat that historical personality?

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