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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 does Boorstin say Moses introduced into Western culture?

2. What experience does Boorstin say Dante described in the Divine Comedy?

3. What does Boorstin say is Buddhism's response to the questions of living?

4. What was unique about the first literary work in Boorstin's account?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How do Greek depictions compare with Egyptian symbols?

2. What contribution did the Egyptians make in building the pyramids?

3. What does Boorstin mean when he says that theology was born in Greek philosophy?

4. What contribution did the Egyptians make to writing and self-expression?

5. What does Boorstin say is the Koran's position on imaginative culture?

6. How does Boorstin describe the Hindu contribution to imaginative culture?

7. How does Boorstin describe the birth of prose?

8. What explanation does Boorstin offer for the cave paintings of Altamira, Lascaux and Les Trois Freres?

9. What was Boccaccio's contribution to Western culture?

10. How does Boorstin characterize Cervantes' contribution to imaginative literature?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Would you recommend The Creators? For what purposes would you recommend The Creators, and what kinds of readers would you not recommend it? What book would you recommend that would cover the same material or provide the same emotional experience in a different way?

Essay Topic 2

In autobiography, artists change themselves in the process of revealing themselves--putting their experiences down on paper seems to give them a new perspective, or free them. Using examples from the text, describe the difference between art that is a final product and art that is psychologically useful to the personal development of the author. Do they make different legacies? Can a psychological process be handed down?

Essay Topic 3

Other critics have told this story--of the progress of art and literature--as an evolution of a state of crisis, as individuals reacted to changes in culture with innovations in art, which changed the nature of the question. To what extent does Boorstin account for the cultural causes of the evolution of art, and to what extent does he account for the sense of ongoing crisis many artists have described?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 829 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample