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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. For what does Boorstin say the Pyramids were built in Egypt?
(a) Challenging the gods.
(b) Measuring the progress of the heavens.
(c) Proclaiming the Egyptians' power as a people.
(d) Housing the dead pharaohs.

2. What does Paul Valery say the artist's business is in the epigraph to Book 1?
(a) To make something out of nothing.
(b) To do God's will.
(c) To free man from God.
(d) To create gods.

3. What does Boorstin say Christianity helped man discover?
(a) Man's power to control nature.
(b) Man's power to create.
(c) The New World.
(d) Democracy.

4. What should be the outcome of art according to the Byron epigraph?
(a) Perfection of human nature.
(b) Replacement of God.
(c) Emulation of God.
(d) Heroic beauty.

5. Why are Muslims prohibited from making lasting images of human figures according to Boorstin?
(a) Because creativity is a divine right, not to be usurped.
(b) Because it takes attention away from living figures.
(c) Because only God can make eternal images.
(d) Because of a general proscription of idolatry.

6. What does Boorstin say the Renaissance offered to Shakespeare?
(a) A community of spectators.
(b) Historically new material for his plays.
(c) New technology to react against and to use in his plays.
(d) New problems in human experience.

7. What does the third-eye represent in Hindu art?
(a) Man's self-awareness.
(b) Ancestors watching over people.
(c) The vision men share with the gods.
(d) The ability of special men to see beyond physical sight.

8. What was the special element of Gothic architecture in Boorstin's opinion?
(a) Light.
(b) Symmetry.
(c) Irregularity.
(d) Color.

9. What tradition did the Christian church follow in its churches?
(a) Jewish synagogues.
(b) Greek temples.
(c) Northern forests.
(d) Roman temples.

10. What is a dithyramb?
(a) A dance done to honor ancestors.
(b) A monument that commemorates a sacrifice.
(c) A song sung in honor of the god.
(d) A poem that commemorates a battle.

11. In what does Boorstin say Rabelais' book was an act of faith?
(a) Language.
(b) Culture.
(c) God.
(d) Literary history.

12. Of what is The Odyssey a parable according to Boorstin?
(a) The mystery of death.
(b) The mystery of warfare.
(c) The mystery of language.
(d) The mystery of creation.

13. What does Auden say about books in the second epigraph to Part 5?
(a) That most deserve to be forgotten.
(b) That undeserving books are often remembered.
(c) That the future is full of meaningless books.
(d) That none are undeservedly remembered.

14. Of what are Chaucer's Canterbury Tales comprised?
(a) A prolonged odyssey.
(b) 24 books of narrative about war.
(c) 31 poetic narratives.
(d) 100 novellas.

15. How does Boorstin characterize the nature of Gothic art?
(a) Morbid.
(b) Playful.
(c) Terrifying.
(d) Obscene.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Confucius say comprised wisdom?

2. What did St. Augustine give men in City of God?

3. What does Boorstin say Christianity got people to see?

4. Of what is Dionysus the god according to Boorstin?

5. When does Boorstin say Stonehenge was created?

(see the answer keys)

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