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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. Commonly, what concerns Dostoevsky's heroes?
(a) Whether or not evil people should be permitted to live.
(b) The morality of suicide.
(c) Whether or not love and loyalty can endure.
(d) The meaning of life.

2. What is important about an actor's fame?
(a) Ultimately it brings displeasure.
(b) Its illusory nature.
(c) The problem of paparazzi.
(d) Its fleeting nature.

3. Which philosopher claims that anxiety is at the source of everything?
(a) St. Augustine.
(b) Heidegger.
(c) Aristotle.
(d) Sartre.

4. What does Camus claim is different about his discussion of suicide?
(a) His views have been formed after conducting many interviews.
(b) He sees it as an individual matter, not purely a social one.
(c) It is easier to read than most works of philosophy.
(d) His attitude to it is more sympathetic.

5. What does Camus see as an almost inevitable companion to passion?
(a) Bliss.
(b) Struggle.
(c) Murder.
(d) Conception.

Short Answer Questions

1. How is Oedipus' fate announced?

2. What comment of Nietzsche's does Camus make reference to near the beginning of the chapter on Philosophy and Fiction?

3. What important factor limits human freedom?

4. What is astonishing about eternal values?

5. What 'two worlds' does Kafka present in his novels?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What is Camus' basic criticism of phenomenology?

3. What does Camus say is tiresome about the human heart (p. 115 of the Penguin edition)?

4. What does humanity need to do in order to understand the world?

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

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

7. Why is the fame of a writer likely to endure and that of an actor not to do so?

8. According to Camus, should don Juan be punished?

9. How does Camus differ from many other commentators when considering the work of Kafka?

10. What were Sisyphus's sins against the gods, for which he was punished?

(see the answer keys)

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