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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. What is especially apparent in Rabelais' own "Pantagruelesque Prognostic" prophecy?

2. "Fat William," of comic folklore, symbolized:

3. In Rabelais' novel, the "ancestral body" to which Bakhtin refers means:

4. What does Bakhtin argue is the relationship between the death of Tappecoue and the episode of the Catchpoles?

5. How does Bakhtin define the combination of human and animal organs in Rabelais' novel?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the "Hippocratic Anthology" significant to Rabelais' work?

2. How does Rabelais strengthen the exaggerated themes of his grotesque realism?

3. What is the role of games in Rabelais' work?

4. How does Rabelais construct the episode of Epistemon's resurrection and of his visions in the underworld?

5. How does Rabelais respond to the geographical changes of his own time and world?

6. What is the connection between the banquet and speech?

7. What did the Medieval stage resemble?

8. What is the significance of "cuckoldry," and how is it portrayed?

9. How does Rabelais use the element of popular speech known as "coq-à-l'âne"?

10. What is the significance of the two Russian eras of history to which Bakhtin refers in Chapter Three?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Rabelais use myth in his work? What types of myth does he draw from (classical, popular, spiritual, etc.)? How are allusions to mythology a part of carnivalesque culture? Cite at least three specific examples of identifiable myths which Rabelais alludes to, alters, parodies, travesties, or repeats.

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

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?

(see the answer keys)

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