View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom does Bataille refer to as untouchables in "Psychological Structure of Fascism"?
(a) The sovereign.
(b) The rich.
(c) The impoverished.
(d) The workers.

2. What does Bataille compare roots to, in "The Language of Flowers"?
(a) Corruption.
(b) Visible leaves.
(c) Death.
(d) Human bodies.

3. What characterizes man in "The Eye"?
(a) Desire for violence and violation.
(b) Longing for purity.
(c) Horror of eyes and insects.
(d) Longing for sacrilege.

4. What principles does Bataille say men associate with height in "The Big Toe"?
(a) Power and danger.
(b) Strength and authority.
(c) Trustworthiness and leadership.
(d) Good and light.

5. When did Bataille deny his faith?
(a) 1919.
(b) 1913.
(c) 1920.
(d) 1911.

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

7. Why did Bataille leave his job in 1942?
(a) He fled the Germans.
(b) He was fired.
(c) He was ill.
(d) He died.

8. What description fits with the "Acephale" group?
(a) Secret society.
(b) Community organizers.
(c) Political underground.
(d) Literature brotherhood.

9. How did Bataille rebel against his father?
(a) By running away from home.
(b) By taking lovers.
(c) By quitting school.
(d) By becoming a Protestant.

10. Where did Bataille go to school?
(a) Ecole des Beaux Artes.
(b) Lycée Henry IV.
(c) Ecole des Chartres.
(d) Lycée International.

11. Why was Bataille annoyed while riding his bicycle?
(a) The schoolyard was fenced in.
(b) The sand was slushy with high tide.
(c) The house was too small for his turns.
(d) The pavement was broken up by streetcar tracks.

12. What film does Bataille cite in "The Eye"?
(a) L'Age d'Or.
(b) That Obscure Object of Desire.
(c) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.
(d) Andalusian Dog.

13. How does "The Language of Flowers" end?
(a) With Count Leopold von Sacher-Masoch putting out a priest's eye.
(b) With a girl being sent away to school.
(c) With Sade tossing flower petals into a ditch of manure.
(d) With students strangling a young woman.

14. How does Bataille describe the Mithraic cult ritual of the sun in "Rotten Sun"?
(a) A worshiper puts out a priest's eye.
(b) A priest spatters a bull's blood on worshipers underneath.
(c) A priest stares into the sun to have a vision.
(d) A priest cuts a victim's throat on an altar.

15. What writer coined the term conspicuous consumption?
(a) Hegel.
(b) Engels.
(c) Marx.
(d) Veblen.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Bataille describe producing and selling in "The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade"?

2. Who arranged Bataille's psychoanalytic cure?

3. How does surrealism rebel at first, in "The 'Old Mole' and the Prefix Sur in the Words Surhomme [Superman] and Surrealist"?

4. Who contributed to "Documents"?

5. What was Bataille afraid of as a child?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 461 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample