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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. In what way are people's minds related?
(a) Through common contradictions.
(b) Through the collective unconscious.
(c) Through common beliefs and visions.
(d) Through common purpose.

4. What comment of Nietzsche's does Camus make reference to near the beginning of the chapter on Philosophy and Fiction?
(a) 'What does not destroy me makes me stronger.'
(b) 'Scattered thoughts can be both orderly and disorderly.'
(c) 'Midway in life's journey we need to enter a dark wood.'
(d) 'We have art in order not to die of the truth.'

5. What has Camus to say about 'great revolutions'?
(a) They take us into a sure future.
(b) They never last.
(c) They are always metaphysical.
(d) They are always metatextual.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Camus, what makes the myth of Sisyphus tragic?

2. What does Camus suggest happens in bad novels?

3. How is Oedipus' fate announced?

4. Identify the literary device Camus uses in: 'Even men without a gospel have their Mount of Olives'.

5. According to Camus, what is important about the idea that actions have consequences?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Camus claim that there can be no experience of death?

2. How does Camus view the novel as an artistic endeavor?

3. How does Camus describe the Church's treatment of heretics?

4. Why does Camus call Prometheus the 'first of modern conquerors'?

5. What is Camus' attitude to Galileo?

6. What does Nietzsche mean when he says 'Great problems are in the street'?

7. In what ways is Sisyphus a rebel?

8. In mentioning the Diary (p. 100 of the Penguin edition), to what does Camus draw attention?

9. According to Camus, what must we take into consideration when reading the works of Franz Kafka?

10. How does Camus account for the promiscuity of don Juan?

(see the answer keys)

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