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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. What relationship between events and things is Bataille describing in "The Solar Anus"?

2. Where did "[Dream]" originate?

3. What did Breton call Bataille?

4. What strategy does Surrealism use for presenting images?

5. Who contributed to "Documents"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What were Bataille's early publications?

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

4. How was Bataille's first book received?

5. What was Bataille's involvement with "Acephale"?

6. What is the value of intellectual violence in Bataille's work?

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

8. What was Bataille's objection to Nietzsche?

9. Describe Bataille's experience with psychoanalysis.

10. Describe the importance of the 'cephalus' in Bataille's thinking.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Bataille's development as a person and as a writer over the course of his career. How did Bataille learn and grow? What were the primary questions or conflicts he grew by resolving?

Essay Topic 2

How did the Popular Front fulfill Bataille's ideal of heterogeneity? Analyze his description of the organization in relation with his other essays about revolution and order.

Essay Topic 3

Assess the claim that Bataille's thinking cannot be reduced to a particular theme or set of values. What is the role of multiplicity and contradiction in Bataille's writing?

(see the answer keys)

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