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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 was Peter impressed by?

2. What does Nicolai find when he reaches the country?

3. What was Sergei's sentence?

4. What kind of poetry does Sergei recite at the Feast?

5. What is Nicolai's relation with Misha?

Short Essay Questions

1. When the narrative resumes in 1827, what trouble is Sergei having?

2. Why does Pinegin want revenge against Sergei, and how does he get it?

3. What leads to Alexander Bobrov's arrest and imprisonment?

4. What are the political implications of the Tsar's acts during the Great War?

5. Who is Madame Adelaide de Ronville, and what does Alexander Bobrov need from her?

6. What happens to Nicolai and Grigory?

7. What is the relationship between Alexander Bobrov and the Suvorins?

8. What does Savva Suvorin do after he is freed?

9. What happens to the Jews in Russia after 1881?

10. How does Rutherfurd describe the Russian experience of the Napoleonic War?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Rutherfurd maintain the reader's interest for nearly 1,000 pages? What plot strategies, what suspense, or what kinds of stories does Rutherfurd include, to keep his readers zooming along? Where is he most successful? Where does the narrative slow down?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Write an evaluative review of "Russka". What is this book's place in culture? What are its uses? Who is its audience? What are its limitations?

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This section contains 636 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample