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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 Camus say is foreign to us today?

2. With God dead, what remains?

3. What can be found at Padovani Beach?

4. Whence had Camus planned to travel in 1939?

5. What type of music is played before the fight?

Short Essay Questions

1. Does Camus see himself as a romantic?

2. What is suggested about the Algiers community by Camus' reference to the colors seen on the beaches in summer?

3. What is the overall impression the reader has of Oran and its people?

4. In what way is Camus' comments about Algerian youth tempered by sadness?

5. Explain the attraction the desert has for thinking human beings.

6. Why do you think Camus calls nudists 'those Protestants of the flesh'?

7. What 'two thirsts' has Camus been able to slake through his visit to Tipasa?

8. To what do love, peace and beauty form the antidote?

9. In what respect did the Greek philosopher Heraclitus think of human society and the physical universe being similar?

10. What must modern man do if he is to recapture the mindset of Ancient Greece and be truly civilized?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

'Philosophy is simultaneously important and unimportant.' Can you explain the apparent paradox in this statement? You should make close reference to Camus' absurdist beliefs as expounded in The Myth of Sisyphus. You might like to consider what other paradoxes appear in this work and discuss the possibility of these being resolved.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the role and responsibility of the artist in the modern world. Has anything in the context changed since Camus' death fifty years ago? How politically aware and involved should the artist allow himself or herself to be? What intellectual and physical dangers might be faced by the politically involved artist and should this matter?

Essay Topic 3

'Camus' use of Franz Kafka's work is particularly apt when we consider the idea of the absurd world.' Discuss the way Camus cites Kafka in the course of his exposition on the absurd. You will need to relate characters and incidents to ideas expressed by Camus. You will also need to consider implications of those ideas. It is important, too, to include any necessary critique of the way Camus has referred to Kafka's work.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 972 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample