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

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

3. What flower is Marquis de Sade plucking petals off, at the end of "The Language of Flowers"?
(a) A daisy.
(b) A rose.
(c) A carnation.
(d) A lily.

4. What was Bataille afraid of as a child?
(a) The Rain.
(b) Snakes.
(c) Spiders.
(d) Rats.

5. How does Bataille describe the mandrake root?
(a) Holy.
(b) Obscene.
(c) Human.
(d) Noisy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the subject of Bataille's first pamphlet?

2. What does Bataille say his father looked like in "[Dream]"?

3. What does Bataille remember his father spanking him with in "[Dream]"?

4. What does Bataille say was the driving force beneath his heterodox theory?

5. When did Bataille publish his first pamphlet?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Bataille's objection to Nietzsche?

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

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

4. What is Bataille's relationship with Hegel?

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

6. How does self-mutilation in "Sacrificial Mutilation and the Severed Ear of Vincent Van Gogh" relate to Bataille's description of body parts in other essays.

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

8. What are the terrifying images in "[Dream]"?

9. Describe the paradox at the heart of "Materialism".

10. Describe Bataille's experience with psychoanalysis.

(see the answer keys)

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