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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 does Bataille describe the mandrake root?
(a) Noisy.
(b) Obscene.
(c) Holy.
(d) Human.

2. What does Bataille feel about the rats in "[Dream]"?
(a) They must be killed.
(b) They must be fed to snakes.
(c) They must be cleaned.
(d) The must be cleared out.

3. Why did Bataille leave his job in 1942?
(a) He was ill.
(b) He was fired.
(c) He fled the Germans.
(d) He died.

4. Where did "[Dream]" originate?
(a) In Bataille's psychoanalysis.
(b) In Bataille's imagination.
(c) In Bataille's marriage.
(d) In Bataille's childhood obsession with eyes.

5. What did Bataille write while he was working?
(a) Art criticism.
(b) A medieval romance.
(c) Articles on philosophy.
(d) Book reviews.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do volcanoes serve as, in "The Solar Anus"?

2. What does Bataille say coitus is associated with, in "The Solar Anus"?

3. In what piece of writing did Bataille record his childhood?

4. What critique does Bataille make in "The Critique of the Foundations of Hegelian Dialectic"?

5. What does Bataille say conspicuous consumption was used for?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the mouth in "Mouth" compare with the eyeball in ''The Eye'?

2. What claim did Bataille make in "The Lugubrious Game"?

3. How does Bataille describe his role in "The Jesuve"?

4. What were Bataille's early publications?

5. What was Bataille's objection to Nietzsche?

6. What distinguished the big toe in "The Big Toe"?

7. What was Bataille's relationship with Andrea Breton?

8. Describe the paradox at the heart of "Materialism".

9. Describe the importance of the 'cephalus' in Bataille's thinking.

10. What is the value of Gnosticism in "Base Materialism and Gnosticism"

(see the answer keys)

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