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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section III (1936-1939).

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Bataille say conspicuous consumption was used for?
(a) Destroying the foundation of wealth.
(b) Attacking the inequalities in the economy.
(c) Devaluing the trappings of wealth.
(d) Affirming the position of the rich.

2. Under whom does fascism unite society, in Bataille's account?
(a) A leader who represents the lower common denominator of society.
(b) A leader who identifies with the state.
(c) A leader who represents the aristocratic self.
(d) A leader who identifies with the individual everyman.

3. What principles does Bataille say men associate with the feet in "The Big Toe"?
(a) Subversion and power.
(b) Powerlessness and subservience.
(c) Evil and dark.
(d) Labor and evil.

4. When does an obelisk cease to be meaningful?
(a) When the military leader who erected it dies.
(b) When the people have more important needs.
(c) When the political party that built it is voted out.
(d) As soon as the authority it symbolizes becomes conscious.

5. What kind of eye does Victor Hugo describe in a poem Bataille cites?
(a) An eye of surveillance.
(b) An eye of judgment.
(c) An eye of conscience.
(d) An eye of longing.

Short Answer Questions

1. What principles does Bataille say men associate with height in "The Big Toe"?

2. What does Bataille feel about the rats in "[Dream]"?

3. What does Bataille describe in "The Critique of the Foundations of the Hegelian Dialectic"?

4. What is the benefit Bataille sees to having more than one meaning in his work?

5. What does Bataille say Nietzschean pride comes from?

(see the answer key)

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