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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 was Nietzsche's life dominated by, in Bataille's account?
(a) Aggression toward the social world.
(b) Obsession with a lost world.
(c) Stifled affection for a woman.
(d) Puzzles in which he could see the nature of society.

2. What happens when political action leads to nothing, in "The Sacred Conspiracy"?
(a) The government will dissolve.
(b) Enthusiasm meets a void.
(c) New political parties will form.
(d) The people will revolt.

3. From what does Bataille say Alfred Baumler distilled a doctrine of the people's will to power?
(a) Nietzschean religion.
(b) Nietzschean politics.
(c) Nietzschean metaphor.
(d) Nietzschean contradiction.

4. What creatures' 'being' does Bataille compare in "The Labyrinth"?
(a) Dog and sponge.
(b) Man and dog.
(c) Bird and dog.
(d) Snake and sponge.

5. What does Bataille say would result from a difference of events in his experience?
(a) He would be at war with himself.
(b) He would reveal his alter-ego.
(c) He would have to confront his true self.
(d) He would be an other.

Short Answer Questions

1. What movement does Bataille say in "The Sacred" was heir to Vincent Van Gogh and Rimbaud?

2. What did Bataille intend to define "The Critique of the Foundations of the Hegelian Dialectic"?

3. What does Bataille say profit leads to, in "The Labyrinth"?

4. What does Bataille say is the only virtue for fascists?

5. Who is Elisabeth Judas-Forster?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Bataille's interpretation of Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption?

2. What is Bataille's theme in "The Labyrinth"?

3. How does a man find himself in "The Labyrinth"?

4. What does contemporary society offer men in "The Sacred Conspiracy", and what does man demand for himself?

5. What is fascism's relationship with homo- and heterogeneity?

6. How does Andre Masson create the tone of the drawings in the book for which Bataille wrote a preface?

7. What is the importance of the obelisk in "The Obelisk"?

8. Describe Bataille's notion of potlatch.

9. How does Bataille reconcile the opposition between self and world in "Sacrifices"?

10. How do Fascists define God, in Bataille's account in "Propositions"?

(see the answer keys)

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