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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. Did the "unofficial" and "official" forms of speech ever coincide?

2. What do some critics argue has been absent from Russian literature?

3. The prologue of _Pantagruel_ is a parody and travesty of:

4. What is a "marketplace spectacle"?

5. Bakhtin considers "thrashing" ambivalent, rather than strictly negative, because:

Short Essay Questions

1. How is degradation expressed, in terms of Rabelais' grotesque realism?

2. How does Bakhtin get around the prohibition of certain kinds of satire and irony in his own time?

3. Why does Bakhtin state that in Rabelais' novel everyday kitchen implements and foods have an intrinsic value?

4. What do Rabelais' long lists of names and epithets signify?

5. How are being drenched in urine or covered in excrement treated in Rabelais' novel?

6. Why do modern readers find it difficult to read Rabelais' novel?

7. What about the episode of the Lord of Basche is carnivalesque?

8. What is important about the figure of the physician in Rabelais' novel?

9. Describe the Catchpoles and what they symbolize.

10. What is the underlying nature of all of Rabelais' images?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is a "blazon"? How are blazons part of the carnivalesque and grotesque traditions of folk humor? What sorts of people or things were turned into blazons, and why? How is the theme of duality related to the blazon? How does Rabelais employ blazons in his novel?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the nature of Medieval and Renaissance popular dramatic forms. On what occasions were performances held? What genre were these performances, and what was their common subject matter? What does Bakhtin mean when he asserts that such performances had no "footlights"? Citing examples from the text, explore the theme of universalism in these dramas.

Essay Topic 3

Describe the relationship between praise and abuse. Use examples of this theme from what Bakhtin identifies as billingsgate and marketplace language and from popular-festive forms in Chapters 2 and 3. How were praise and abuse part of the tradition of "unofficial" language, and specifically how did they oppose "official" language? Are there elements of the grotesque in praise and abuse?

(see the answer keys)

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