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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. Bakhtin thinks that life is:

2. What are examples of carnivalesque victims?

3. In the Prologue of the Third Book, to which contemporary events does Rabelais allude?

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

5. What does the "form" of any kind of art express?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the Catchpoles and what they symbolize.

2. Describe the Renaissance student writings.

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

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

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

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

7. What role do oaths and profanities fill in Rabelais' novel?

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

9. How is Bakhtin's book "double-voiced," as Michael Holquist asserts it is?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define the term "carnivalesque" as Bakhtin uses it. Then, demonstrate this definition by applying it to at least two of the episodes, characters, or scenes which take place in Rabelais' novel. What does the carnivalesque demonstrate about the nature of folk culture? What role does humor play in the carnivalesque?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the importance of Rabelais' own historical context to his novel. How does he allude to, reinterpret, parody/travesty, or otherwise address contemporary people, places, and events? Cite at least two examples from Bakhtin's study.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the "querelle des femmes" and Rabelais' perspective on it. How does Rabelais' novel portray women and femininity? Is Bakhtin's explanation of Rabelais' perspective on the querelle des femmes problematic in any way? Feel free to address this issue using terms of modern feminist theory.

(see the answer keys)

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