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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How was the god Mercury involved in the Sisyphus story?
(a) He interceded on Sisyphus's behalf.
(b) He swapped roles with him.
(c) He impregnated Sisyphus's wife when in the guise of a swan.
(d) He led Sisyphus forcibly back to the underworld.

2. What embodies 'a drama of the intelligence', according to Camus?
(a) The great scientific discoveries.
(b) A work of art.
(c) The plays of Shakespeare.
(d) A marvel of engineering.

3. In what ways are the thinker and the artist alike?
(a) Both have a desire to influence the minds of others.
(b) Both thinker and artist have commitment and become themselves in their work.
(c) Both have total commitment to success.
(d) Both have a tendency to reject expressionism.

4. What technique is employed by philosophical novelists?
(a) They often construct their novels as conversations.
(b) They use imagery rather than argument to convey their ideas.
(c) They write with heavy didacticism.
(d) They use characters as mouthpieces for their philosophy.

5. Identify the literary device Camus uses in: 'Even men without a gospel have their Mount of Olives'.
(a) The device is personification.
(b) The device is an example of onomatopoeia.
(c) The device is an example of transubstantiation.
(d) The device is a metaphor.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Camus see Sisyphus vis-a-vis his fate?

2. What 'two worlds' does Kafka present in his novels?

3. What assertions are always false?

4. What has been the focus of don Juan's existence?

5. What is the prime interest of everyday man?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Camus wonder if an absurd work of art is truly possible?

2. What were Sisyphus's sins against the gods, for which he was punished?

3. What is Camus' attitude to Galileo?

4. In an absurd universe, are all actions permitted?

5. How does Camus describe the Church's treatment of heretics?

6. According to Camus, what is the one serious problem for philosophy?

7. What is Camus' basic criticism of phenomenology?

8. What is particularly interesting and unusual about Sisyphus and his paradoxical happiness in his fate?

9. Why does Camus claim that there can be no experience of death?

10. What does Nietzsche mean when he says 'Great problems are in the street'?

(see the answer keys)

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