View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In the section on agony, to what does the narrator compare the steady progress of the emotional state he experiences?

2. According to this section in the text, what is the best reaction to the other's suffering?

3. The lover compares his gaze on the other's body to which of the following things?

4. What does the lover seek to "read" on the other's body?

5. What message does the lover hope to send through his asceticism?

Short Essay Questions

1. In The Absent One/Absence, how does the lover interpret the other's absence?

2. In Atopos, how does the lover see himself in relation to the other?

3. In Agony/Anxiety, why does the author compare the lover to a psychotic who fears a breakdown?

4. What is the ascetic process that the lover goes through in the section entitled To Be Ascetic/Askesis?

5. In Atopos, how does the lover associate the other with innocence?

6. In "I have an Other-ache"/Compassion, in relation to the other's suffering, the lover sees himself as a Mother, but an insufficient one-why?

7. In The Heart, how does the author compare the heart to other attributes such as wit?

8. How does the mother-child relationship relate to the lover's feelings about the other's absence?

9. In "Tutti Sistemati"/Pigeonholed, how does the lover perceive the system inhabited by others?

10. Discuss the example of Werther's love for Charlotte that the author uses to explain annulment in To Love Love/Annulment.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Jealousy, the author says that "Werther's jealousy derives from Images" (pg. 144.) Likewise, in Images (pg. 132), the author describes how Werther is affected by a particular scene involving Charlotte. The image clearly has a powerful effect on the lover. Why?

- What does the image represent?

- How does the lover interpret various images and what do they become for him?

- How does the image inform desire? (pg. 145.)

- What is the nature of the jealousy that images provoke?

Essay Topic 2

Elaborate on the notion that the word "adorable" (Adorable, p. 18) represents a failure in language.

- Why, and on whose part, does this this failure occur?

- How does the lover view his desire and how does this affect his relationship to language?

- How does the term "adorable" function?

Essay Topic 3

In this essay, you will discuss the nature of ravishment as outlined in the text, showing how the modern form draws from and transforms early myths of the ravisher.

1) Contrast the ancient myth of the ravisher with the modern concept of ravishment. How does the object of rape become the subject of love?

2) Discuss the nature of the lover's ravishment. How is it described in the text? What state precedes this ravishment and why?

3) What does the element of surprise have to do with ravishment, in both early and modern versions?

4) What is the eventual conclusion to this state?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,043 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample