View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section I (1927-1930).

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are flowers not matched by, in "The Language of Flowers"?
(a) The corrupt hands that pick them.
(b) The work of bees.
(c) A show of human love.
(d) The purity of the sunshine.

2. Why did Bataille attack Nietzsche?
(a) For admiring Emerson.
(b) For megalomania and failure of ideas.
(c) For failing to embrace the decomposition of culture.
(d) For going insane.

3. What is the first stage of revolution, in "The Use Value of D. A. F. de Sade"?
(a) Appropriating the language with which groups claim power.
(b) Expelling a group from power.
(c) Portraying your revolution as a utopian project destined to succeed.
(d) Staking a claim to a new kind of authority.

4. What effect do flowers have on love, in "The Language of Flowers"?
(a) Sanctification.
(b) Praise.
(c) Celebration.
(d) Sacrilege.

5. Where does Bataille recall riding his bicycle in Reims, in "[Dream]"?
(a) In his house.
(b) Through the streets.
(c) On the beach.
(d) In the schoolyard.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Bataille describe the mandrake root?

2. What principles does Bataille say men associate with height in "The Big Toe"?

3. How do philosophers use natural forms, in "The Language of Flowers"?

4. What does standing upright do for man in "The Big Toe"?

5. In "Sacrificial Mutilation and the Severed Ear of Vincent Van Gogh", how long does Bataille say it took Van Gogh to paint suns after his self-mutilation?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 284 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample