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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Bakhtin assert is evident in Rabelais' use of games that combine play and prophecy?
(a) A disregard for the importance of historical figures.
(b) A ponderous, scholarly approach to the study of history.
(c) A highly spiritual notion of the relevance of human history.
(d) A carnivalesque conception of the historical process.

2. Bakhtin asserts that Rabelais' language, and the language of Renaissance France, was above all:
(a) Stagnant and dead.
(b) Lacking foreign influence.
(c) Free and flexible.
(d) Strict and immobile.

3. Bakhtin notes that two of the most commonly combined themes in Medieval popular literature relating to monks are:
(a) Sex and death.
(b) Piety and cruelty.
(c) Gluttony and desire.
(d) Envy and greed.

4. Bakhtin asserts that in Rabelais' time, food and banquets always contained a sense of:
(a) Depression and resignation.
(b) Intellectual stimulation.
(c) Physical discomfort.
(d) Victory and regeneration.

5. In the example Schneegans offers, what does Rabelais' Friar John assert makes women fertile?
(a) The shadow of the abbey belfry
(b) Eating a lot of tripe.
(c) Prayer to the protective saint of childbirth.
(d) The caress of a king.

6. Why did Hippocrates assert such an influence on Rabelais?
(a) The theme of religious fervor in his works.
(b) All his works were set in the marketplace.
(c) The theme of the grotesque body in his works.
(d) Hippocrates' exclusive emphasis on folk culture.

7. What does Rabelais associate closely with the underworld?
(a) Bodily depression after too much feasting.
(b) Various types of holes.
(c) Mountains and ridges.
(d) The depths of the human heart.

8. What Renaissance series of works was highly influential to Rabelais' notion of the grotesque body?
(a) The "Nordic Fictions."
(b) The "Oriental Tales."
(c) The "Indian Wonders."
(d) The "New World Chronicles."

9. Bakhtin asserts that the spirit of Carnival is essentially:
(a) One of immortality and regeneration.
(b) One of innocence and confusion.
(c) One of pessimism and regression.
(d) One of dullness and duty.

10. What happened to Rabelais after his novel was published?
(a) He was questioned about his loyalty to France, then drafted into the army.
(b) He was praised for his honest portrayals of the people and given a government pension.
(c) He was attacked by the Church and the government, but he remained free and successful.
(d) He was severely censured by the Church, then imprisoned and killed.

11. According to Bakhtin, how did Rabelais invent many of the locales and characters in his novel?
(a) He abused drugs and wrote down his hallucinations.
(b) He rewrote stories from his childhood.
(c) He wrote many letters asking friends for ideas.
(d) He traveled much and met many people.

12. Bakhtin finds that ___________ are especially closely interwoven with the grotesque body.
(a) Banquet images.
(b) Intelligent scholars.
(c) Acts of war.
(d) Secrets of lovers.

13. What particular tradition did Peter the Great bring to Russia from Western Europe?
(a) Market vendors loudly advertising their wares.
(b) Clownlike crowning and uncrownings at feasts.
(c) Tragic dramas and historical stage-plays.
(d) The debasement of the Church during Carnival.

14. What body part is most often used in grotesque caricatures of sexual potency?
(a) The nose.
(b) The feet.
(c) The hands.
(d) The torso.

15. Bakhtin defines Rabelais' giants as:
(a) Divine images.
(b) Debased clowns.
(c) Subhuman creatures.
(d) Grotesque figures.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Friar John interpret the riddle he and Gargantua hear?

2. To what are "swabs" most closely related?

3. How does Bakhtin say Ivan the Terrible of Russia was similar to Rabelais?

4. Which grotesque elements does Bakhtin note were included in the procession of the feast of Corpus Christi?

5. What does the etymology of Gargantua's name suggest his name means?

(see the answer keys)

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