This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 12, Chapter 4 - Banquet Imagery & Chapter 5 - The Grotesque Image of the Body and Its Sources.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why are Rabelais' billingsgate elements considered "coarse and cynical" by most scholars?
(a) Many scholars believe that Rabelais himself was bitter from publication disputes.
(b) These elements express a deep distrust of contemporary society.
(c) The Latin derivations of his scatological vocabulary mean "cynical."
(d) Many scholars interpret them only in a modern context.

2. What does Bakhtin find inadequate in Veselovsky's metaphor of Rabelais as a village boy?
(a) Veselovsky's image is cynical, but Rabelais actually celebrates regenerative laughter.
(b) Veselovsky's image is too young at heart, for Rabelais wrote only with an old, tired voice.
(c) Veselovsky's image seems too urban for Rabelais, who only wrote about the countryside.
(d) Veselovsky's image excludes the seriousness of the boy as a budding scholar.

3. Why does Friar John beat thousands of men in his abbey?
(a) As a show of force to deter invaders.
(b) Another Friar challenged him.
(c) To save the abbey's vineyards.
(d) To save France from atheism.

4. "The Treatise of Garcia of Toledo," which Bakhtin cites, is notable for:
(a) Its disregard for the festive tradition.
(b) Its simple philosophy of religious asceticism.
(c) Its portrayal of the gluttony of the Pope.
(d) Its retelling of ancient myths and fables.

5. Bakhtin associates Friar John's beating of the men with:
(a) Juvenalian satires of public figures.
(b) The last charge of Charlemagne.
(c) The Dionysian feast of the grape harvest.
(d) Market vendors who assault non-paying customers.