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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. Kristeva says Celine anchors the destiny of literature through a re-assumption of what?

2. What type of creature does Kristeva say Celine saw man as?

3. Who did Celine devote his doctoral dissertation to?

4. Celine was of what nationality?

5. In which of Celine's books does the narrator say, "A beautiful shroud embroidered with tales--that's what the Pale Lady wants"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Kristeva mean when she says Celine's language exhibits a fascination with what might be called "binary" speech?

2. How did Celine present very young girls in his works?

3. How does Kristeva seem to feel about Celine's Nazism?

4. What does Kristeva say Celine felt was the foundation of human existence?

5. In what ways that Kristeva points out do Celine's writings differ from Jewish ideas?

6. How does Kristeva say Celine captures the abject in his writing?

7. Why would Celine's work not be considered abject when he was actively writing them?

8. What reasons does Kristeva give for why Celine agreed with anti-Jew sentiments?

9. How does Kristeva say the hatred of Jews act as a metaphor for the abject?

10. Why does Kristeva say it is rash to ignore any value one might find in the Anti-Semitism in Celine's work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the concept of the "zero-state" in young children. What does Kristeva mean when she talks about the zero state? What happens when a child starts to come out of the zero state? What are some of the fears and desires that a young, pre-cognitive child might have? How do the fears and desires sync up with Freud's model of the Oedipal triangle? How do they go against it?

Essay Topic 2

According to Kristeva's essay, what seems to be the purpose of Celine's use of grotesque and crude imagery? What is he trying to show his readers about their nature and about their identity? How does he use these grotesque images to relate man back to the abject?

Essay Topic 3

How does Celine use female characters to disrupt the traditional model of the Oedipal triangle? What are some of the female characters he uses? What are their characteristics? How do these characters differ from the ones in the triangle? What roles are reversed or distorted? What seems to be Celine's goal with these characters? What does it seem like he wants the reader to feel?

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