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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What comment has Camus to make about Malraux?
(a) His thought is bracing.
(b) He is an unappreciated genius.
(c) His thought is inspirational and pure.
(d) His thought is confusingly expressed.

2. What is astonishing about eternal values?
(a) They transcend cultural factors.
(b) They survive wars and other conflicts.
(c) The very fact that they exist without reference to God.
(d) That they exist at all.

3. What would be a synonym for the phrase 'fecund rumination' (p. 93 of the Penguin Edition)?
(a) Happy return.
(b) Vetinarary fees.
(c) Productive thought.
(d) Lively imagination.

4. To which school of thought does Husserl belong?
(a) Teleology.
(b) Phenomenology.
(c) Geomorphology.
(d) Rationalism.

5. What quality does Camus call 'the fatal evasion'?
(a) Hope.
(b) Mendacity.
(c) Despair.
(d) Faith.

6. What temptation does Camus suggest is hardest to overcome?
(a) The temptation to explain.
(b) The temptation to commit suicide.
(c) The temptation to be absurdy sentimental.
(d) The temptation to love.

7. According to Camus, what makes the myth of Sisyphus tragic?
(a) The hero is conscious of his situation.
(b) He has been a plaything of the gods.
(c) The presence of The Furies.
(d) The hero has received unjust punishment.

8. In The Castle, what is significant about the character Amalia?
(a) She is pregnant.
(b) She is a dwarf.
(c) She is meant to be a representation of Helen of Troy.
(d) She is the only character without hope.

9. Once, how were the condemned spared the sight of the scaffold?
(a) Priests held a little painted screens in front of the condemned person's face.
(b) The condemned person was blindfolded.
(c) The execution chamber was never lit.
(d) The condemned person walked backwards, with two priests assisting.

10. What argument does Camus dismiss as 'a matter of profound indifference'?
(a) The ontological argument.
(b) Whether or not the Bible is literally true.
(c) The absurd dilemma.
(d) Whether or not the earth revolves around the sun.

11. Who is the author of Discourses of Edification?
(a) Camus.
(b) Sartre.
(c) Kierkegaard.
(d) Russell.

12. When did Sisyphus test his wife's love?
(a) On their wedding night.
(b) When he was close to death.
(c) As he was leaving on his travels.
(d) When he returned from his travels.

13. Who liberated Death?
(a) The god of war.
(b) The messenger of the gods.
(c) Eurydice.
(d) Persephone.

14. Why did the gods view Sisyphus' punishment as particularly dreadful?
(a) It was unfair relative to his crime.
(b) They saw their mistake but were unable to change things.
(c) It involved futile and hopeless labor.
(d) It involved immense pain.

15. Why are European cemeteries hideous?
(a) They are badly planned.
(b) They are not maintained properly.
(c) People beautify what they love, not what they hate--and they hate death.
(d) Only poor art-work and sculpture is used.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what ways are the thinker and the artist alike?

2. What sacrifice does Loyola say God rejoices in?

3. Who is the protagonist in The Trial?

4. According to Camus, what is the only way Iago can be understood?

5. What is the most harrowing passion of all?

(see the answer keys)

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