introduction to literary theory MCQs

A. any system for the production of meaning is inevitably bound by context, yet also limitless.

C. All of the above.

D. texts are always heterogeneous.

A. Reject all previous modes of literary theory

B. Work only with ideas developed by post-Marxist theorists

C. Focus on a return to traditional critical methods

A. A reversal

B. A poetic metaphor

C. A satire

B. A term that explains resistance to a monolithic text

C. A term used to describe how texts include a variety of styles

D. A term used to explain the use of multiple points of view in literature

A. Individuals perform gender actively.

B. Performance is the ultimate objective of all human beings.

D. Individuals develop consciousness through speech

A. Women should primarily dedicate themselves to studying womens literature from the past.

B. Women should write, but they should do so only within the existent male canon.

C. Women should be unconcerned with the struggle for identity.

A. Deconstruction

C. Feminism

D. Marxism

B. Literary criticism is concerned only with the meaning of a literary work, while literary theory is concerned only with the structure of a literary work.

C. Literary criticism is concerned with how characters in a text act, while literary theory is concerned with why characters act.

D. Literary criticism draws upon research derived from sources outside literature, while literary theory draws upon sources within a text.

B. Real gender roles are scripted by excellent writers.

C. Only individuals who have the capacity to perform have gender.

D. Gender roles do not exist.

B. The reader acts upon the text.

C. The reader is acted upon by the text.

D. The reader brings individual knowledge to his or her reading of the text.

B. The reader is less important than the authors context.

C. The reader is sublimated beneath the author.

D. The reader is totally subject to the authors intention.

A. How readers regard critics

B. How readers imagine visual images in a text

D. How readers learn to read

A. Second-wave feminism

C. Psychological studies of women

D. How women really feel about male writers

A. A language that does not yet constitute a real language

B. A supernatural language

D. A language used by a particular marginalized group of people within a larger dominant culture

A. Linguistics is too complicated to be distilled to a formula.

B. Language is inseparable from its historical context.

D. There are five phases of linguistic development.

A. Many theories are no longer accepted by their parent disciplines.

B. Many theories have been pushed too far into abstraction.

D. The reasoning of theory is often too circular.

B. A theory that values restraint, form, and imitation

C. A humanity-centered view of the universe

D. A school of theory devoted to the revival of Classical (ancient Greek and Roman) literature

A. The ability of a text to contain truth

B. The idea that a text has a specific meaning that can be understood through a process of deconstruction

C. Jacques Derridas style of writing

A. The effect of the economy on womens concerns

B. The effect of the unconscious mind on the conscious self

D. The effect of literature in enlightening the human mind

A. A term related to gender theory that argues that men are dominant in society by virtue of their economic privilege

C. A form of literary criticism based on linguistic analysis

D. A form of literary criticism that does not incorporate economic concerns

B. Platos The Republic

C. Roland Barthess The Death of the Author

D. Jacques Derridas Of Grammatology

A. Obsessions

B. Slips of the tongue

D. Changes in emotional states

A. Literary study is unaffected by a lack of interest in sexuality.

B. Understanding homosexuality has little effect on understanding culture.

C. Understanding homosexual themes in novels has become too routine

B. A concept derived from the ancient Greek word pragma, meaning action

C. An idea used to guide conduct towards clear objectives

D. A theory of practical actions developed by William James

B. A term that describes the effect of autobiography on text

C. A term that describes the attempt to read homosexuality into literature

D. A term that describes the absence of racial others in the canon

A. Carl Jung

C. Michel Foucault

D. Jacques Derrida

A. It suggests that gender has power over class.

C. It suggests that education, rather than money, is needed for the liberation of women.

D. It suggests that the suppression of women is part of a historical climate that will naturally fade away.

A. Suggesting that the study of literature is based on the breakdown of language into signs

B. Calling into question the capacity of language to communicate

C. Arguing that language, and therefore literary texts, relies on the difference between terms and therefore constantly defers meaning.

A. Formalism

B. Chaos theory

D. Ecotheory

B. An understanding of how double experiences create identity

C. An attempt to explain dual identity

D. A concept developed by W.E.B Du Bois

A. Cleanth Brooks

B. Harold Bloom

D. Wolfgang Iser

A. Sigmund Freud

B. Carl Jung

C. William James

A. Literature is timeless, and thus meaning does not change.

B. There is no potential for multiple and differing meanings in a work of literature.

D. Language must be studied in conjunction with history in order to create meaning.

B. Emmanuel Lvinas

C. Wolfgang Iser

D. Jean-Paul Sartre

B. An infants inability to speak prior to the mirror stage

C. The formulaic shift between economic and political themes

D. The referential relationships among symbols, signifiers, and signs

A. Viktor Shklovsky

B. Roland Barthes

D. Claude Lvi-Strauss

B. Gender is a problematic, but essentially true, category.

C. While gender is not real, the stereotypes that accompany it are true.

D. Womens gender is artificial, while mens gender is not.

A. The West tends to look at Asian countries as individual units rather than lump them together.

B. TheWest spends too much time trying to consider an Asian perspective.

D. The West refuses to apply economic and political coercion to Asian writers.

A. Poststructuralism

C. Structuralism

D. Humanism

A. Critics should attempt to paraphrase texts in order to find out what they mean

C. Critics should examine historical information surrounding a literary work.

D. Critics should consider evolving notions of a text over time.

A. Entering the authors mind through his or her literary works

C. Understanding the authors consciousness

D. Reproducing the authors thoughts in a critical context

B. Game theory

C. Trauma theory

D. Marxist theory

A. He considers it to be vital in order to understand literary texts.

B. He considers theory to be the only way that literary texts can be interpreted.

D. He has no misgivings about the practical usability of literary theory.

A. Strange attractors are mysterious forces that are entirely random.

B. Strange attractors are complex forces that are determined by the laws of physics.

D. Strange attractors are complex forces that are entirely random.

A. Jacques Derrida

B. Julia Kristeva

C. Theodor W. Adorno

B. They promote ideology because it helps to create a dominant social order

C. They accept ideology as an essential, although sometimes problematic, part of society.

D. They reject the idea that ideology has real effects on social progress.

A. Literary texts should not be read as a projection of the authors psyche.

C. Literary texts are unlike dreams because they have a system of order and produce meaning.

D. Literary texts solely reflect an authors intentions.

A. An approach that emphasizes the historical context of a text

B. An approach that emphasizes the biographical intent of a text

D. An approach that emphasizes racial issues in a text

A. To explain why there are few examples of successful non-Western literature

B. To show the ways in which mostWestern literature is superior

D. To draw attention to the positive effects of colonization on literature

A. Edward Said

B. Stephen Greenblatt

C. Jacques Lacan