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

2. Where does Kristeva say the "miracle" of Celine lies?

3. Kristeva says Celine anchors the destiny of literature through a re-assumption that he makes by use of what?

4. Kristeva quotes Celine as saying slang is a language of what?

5. In abject literature, Kristeva says there must be a narrator who is distinct from what?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does Kristeva say Celine's work represents the division caused by economic inequality?

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

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

5. Why does Kristeva say her reading of Celine will not be a thematic one?

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

7. Why does Kristeva say it makes sense that Celine would say his style was the most important part of his writing?

8. Why does Kristeva say that in Germany, even when Jews were seriously persecuted, they were punished with an increased vigor?

9. How, according to Kristeva, do Celine's works draw the reader to their primal repressions?

10. Why might Kristeva say many of Celine's stylistic choices be called anti-linguistic or anti-grammatical?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the concept of the Other as part of the Oedipal triangle. What does Kristeva say the Other is? Why does man try to seek fulfillment through it? What happens when man stops trying to seek fulfillment through the Other? How does this relate to the abject?

Essay Topic 2

Explore the concept of the abject. How does Kristeva go about explaining what the abject is? Where does the abject come from? What does Kristeva mean when she says it is neither subject nor object? How does she relate her feelings about the abject to the reader? How does she use her personal experiences with these feelings to explain the abject?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the role of Sigmund Freud in the book. How does Kristeva make use of his ideas? How do her ideas relate to his? How are they different? Describe two instances where she explains his view on a subject and expands upon it.

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