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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In what does Boorstin say Pantagruel luxuriates?
(a) Sadism.
(b) Divine sensualism.
(c) Vulgarity.
(d) Devotion.

2. What does Thoreau say, in the epigraph to Part 7, it takes to speak the truth?
(a) Eyes to perceive it.
(b) A commitment to make people see it.
(c) An understanding of what the consequences will be, for the people who don't want to hear it.
(d) One to speak and one to listen.

3. When were the cave drawings discovered?
(a) 1700s.
(b) 1900s.
(c) 1800s.
(d) 1600s.

4. What are hieroglyphs?
(a) A pictorial language.
(b) An early alphabet.
(c) Symbols of a dead language.
(d) No one knows.

5. How does Boorstin characterize Suger's creation at the St. Denis cathedral?
(a) Melodramatic.
(b) Ascetic.
(c) Romantic.
(d) Obscure.

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

7. What was Boccaccio's inspiration for the Decameron?
(a) The plague.
(b) Developments in the medieval church.
(c) The Wars of the Roses.
(d) The discovery of the New World.

8. Who was the first divinity according to the Rig Veda?
(a) Afghanistani.
(b) Darsan.
(c) Karma.
(d) Prajapati.

9. Into what did Boethius want to inject Greek wisdom?
(a) Architecture.
(b) Technology.
(c) Politics.
(d) Warfare.

10. What does Boorstin say Moses introduced into Western culture?
(a) The notion of eternal reoccurrence.
(b) The idea of human sacrifice.
(c) The idea of original sin.
(d) The idea of a single omnipotent creator.

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

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

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

14. Who was Boethius?
(a) A philosopher of Rome.
(b) A counselor to King Theodoric.
(c) A Gothic architect.
(d) A Syrian poet.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Boorstin characterize the nature of Gothic art?

2. Of what does Stonehenge consist?

3. What does Boorstin say the Renaissance offered to Shakespeare?

4. What does the dome of the Pantheon proclaim according to Boorstin?

5. What was the first literary work according to Boorstin?

(see the answer keys)

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