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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. Which of the following is one of the directions recomposition of society can take?

2. How did Engels and Hartmann differ on the tenets of Hegel's "Philosophy of Nature"?

3. What was the purpose of the Popular Front, in Bataille's account?

4. What tone did Andre Masson establish in his drawings?

5. What movement does Bataille say in "The Sacred" was heir to Vincent Van Gogh and Rimbaud?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does contemporary society offer men in "The Sacred Conspiracy", and what does man demand for himself?

2. What flaw does Bataille identify in dialectic philosophy in "The Critique of the Foundations of the Hegelian Dialectic"?

3. Judging by "The Critique of the Foundations of the Hegelian Dialectic" and his other essays, what does Bataille see as the value of dialectics?

4. Briefly describe the theory of conspicuous consumption.

5. What is the essence of Bataille's essay "The Practice of Joy before Death"?

6. What pattern for self-discovery does Bataille offer in "The Sacred"?

7. How does Andre Masson create the tone of the drawings in the book for which Bataille wrote a preface?

8. What does Bataille see as the value of Christianity of in "The Notion of Expenditure"?

9. How did Nietzsche respond to the decay of his culture, according to Bataille's essay "Nietzschean Chronicle"?

10. What aspect of Nietzsche's philosophy did the Fascists appropriate, in Bataille's account in "Nietzsche and the Fascists"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze Bataille's writing style to comment on his literary personality and temperament.

Essay Topic 2

Assess Bataille's place in the rank of surrealists--In what ways is he a surrealist, and in what ways does his art exceed or fail to live up to surrealism?

Essay Topic 3

How has the importance of obscenity in literature changed since Bataille's time? Research the reactions to Bataille and to other writers who used disorienting or profane language during Bataille's time, and describe the changes that have taken place in readers' response to obscene or profane or sacrilegious material.

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