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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 made Lyrical Ballads revolutionary according to Boorstin?

2. In Boorstin's account, Michelangelo changed man from an imitation of nature to what?

3. Why did Dickens leave the public sphere?

4. For what is Faust a metaphor according to Boorstin?

5. How does Boorstin say Proust created life?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the skyscraper's role in the development of the human imagination?

2. What, in Boorstin's opinion, is calligraphy's place in the history of human culture?

3. What is Coleridge's importance in imaginative literature according to Boorstin?

4. How does Boorstin characterize Michelangelo's contribution to human culture?

5. How did visual arts change as artists came to appreciate the power of light?

6. What does Boorstin say is Ben Franklin's contribution to the art of imaginative life?

7. What does Boorstin say is Rousseau's contribution to the art of autobiography?

8. How did Beethoven change the nature of music according to Boorstin?

9. How does Boorstin describe the evolution of the orchestra over time?

10. Where does Melville's Moby Dick fit in Boorstin's narrative?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Evaluate the proposition that Boorstin's portrait of culture is outdated. Describe how it is no longer appropriate to our times, and, if possible, what has replaced it.

Essay Topic 2

Where is the climax of this book? Are there different climaxes? What questions does each climax resolve? What questions does each climax leave unanswered?

Essay Topic 3

Assess the proposition that Boorstin's inclusion of non-Western art and culture amounts to tokenism that reflects a Western bias.

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This section contains 680 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample