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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Bataille recall riding his bicycle in Reims, in "[Dream]"?

2. When did Bataille publish his first pamphlet?

3. In whose hands does Bataille describe conspicuous consumption as a tool?

4. What are the rats doing in "[Dream]"?

5. Where did "[Dream]" originate?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Bataille's relationship with Hegel?

2. What experience does Bataille elevate in "Rotten Sun"?

3. What was Bataille's relationship with Andrea Breton?

4. Explain the title of the essay "The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade".

5. Describe Bataille's experience with psychoanalysis.

6. What does Bataille say about surrealism in "The 'Old Mole' and the Prefix Sur in the Words Surhomme [Superman] and Surrealist"?

7. Describe Bataille's religion in childhood.

8. How does the notion of parody apply to the sun in "The Solar Anus"?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Assess Bataille's place in the rank of surrealists--In what ways is he a surrealist, and in what ways does his art exceed or fail to live up to surrealism?

Essay Topic 2

Bataille aligned himself with Catholicism before he broke with it as a young man--but what religion can we interpolate from Bataille's writing? Analyze his writings and describe the religion or lack of religion in Bataille's writing.

Essay Topic 3

Bataille uses the thoughts of Thorstein Veblen in "The Notion of Expenditure", but he is not merely following Veblen. What use does Bataille put Veblen's thoughts to, and how does Veblen's idea of conspicuous consumption fit into Bataille's overall value scheme?

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