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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. Whom did the Popular Front join with?
(a) Fascists and totalitarians.
(b) Communists and Socialists.
(c) Democrats and Socialist Democrats.
(d) Bureaucrats and Communists.

2. What does Bataille claim the world is in "The Solar Anus"?
(a) Parody.
(b) Tragedy.
(c) Comedy.
(d) Farce.

3. How does Bataille describe his father?
(a) Depressed and alcoholic.
(b) Frequently ill and mentally unstable.
(c) Financially secure.
(d) Blind, paralytic and syphilitic.

4. What does Bataille say the eye causes?
(a) Reverence.
(b) Despair.
(c) Anxiety.
(d) Desire.

5. What does the other self-mutilator (besides Van Gogh) do in "Sacrificial Mutilation and the Severed Ear of Vincent Van Gogh"?
(a) Drink his own blood.
(b) Cut off his hand.
(c) Bite off his finger.
(d) Put out his eye.

Short Answer Questions

1. What are flowers not matched by, in "The Language of Flowers"?

2. When was George Bataille born?

3. How does Bataille describe his memory of his father pulling down his pants in "[Dream]"?

4. What critique does Bataille make in "The Critique of the Foundations of Hegelian Dialectic"?

5. What did Breton call Bataille?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the mouth in "Mouth" compare with the eyeball in ''The Eye'?

2. Describe the importance of myth in Bataille's writing and thinking.

3. What claim did Bataille make in "The Lugubrious Game"?

4. How would you characterize Bataille's thoughts on society and economy?

5. What distinguished the big toe in "The Big Toe"?

6. Describe Bataille's involvement with the Popular Front.

7. What does Bataille say about 'freaks' in "The Deviations of Nature"?

8. What type of essay is "Formless"?

9. How does Bataille describe his role in "The Jesuve"?

10. What is expressed in the language of flowers in "The Language of Flowers"?

(see the answer keys)

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