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This test consists of 5 short answer questions and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where are Lenin and Nadya when the war breaks out?

2. According to Joyce, what is the only country not to have its art well-represented in Zurich?

3. Which of the following is not a title that Joyce attaches to Odysseus in this section?

4. In this section, Tzara tells Gwen that her most perfect attribute is her what?

5. After what French writer do the Dadaists name their Cabaret at the Meierei Bar?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Travesties is a homage and subversion of Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners The Importance of Being Earnest. He steals certain characters and scenes outright and transposes them to a different era. Write an essay about the connection between these two plays in three parts:

Part 1) The two love interests in The Importance of Being Earnest are also called Cecily and Gwendolen. They, too, have odd caveats for their love. What conditions do the two women give in this play regarding their hearts and how do they reflect a world in flux?

Part 2) Mistaken identity plays a major role in Wilde's farce like in Stoppard's. Why do characters in Travesties assume false identities? What is the meaning of the switched folders? How do both represent something more political than personal?

Part 3) Earnest is a product of the Victorian Era, an era of certitude and stricture. Travesties transposes this story to the Edwardian era, when certainty died in the trenches. How does Stoppard undermine Wilde's pat farce injecting it with the madness of the First World War?

Essay Topic 2

Tristan Tzara's hat is a central symbol of the play. From it is drawn, and its very significance seems to mystify Gwendolen and Henry Carr and James Joyce. Write an essay about the significance of the hat as a symbol. Who handles it besides Tzara and what surprises emerge from it? What role does it play in Tristan's wooing of Gwendolen? What does it represent in the world of the play?

Essay Topic 3

Over the course of the play, many characters argue the virtues and vices of new art. Each of the major figures has a different view regarding art's place in society. Write an essay discussing these viewpoints, focusing on the four major characters of the play. What does each think about the role of art? What is the value of old art? What about new art like Dada? What lesson is art meant to impart to its audience?

Part 1) Henry Carr

Part 2) Tristan Tzara

Part 3) James Joyce

Part 4) Lenin

(see the answer keys)

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