Literary Criticism Questions and Answers

Q: Lionel Trilling's essay "Freud and Literature" was written in the year ..................... .

The essay dates from 1940.Lionel Trilling's 'Freud and Literature' first appeared in 1940 and, revised, was collected in The Liberal Imagination (1950). It examines Freud's account of art and argues that the mind, as Freud described it, is in its very constitution a poetry-making organ.The other years do not match: the essay was revised in 1947 and collected in 1950, and neither of those dates is offered, so 1940 is the year of its writing and first publication.

Q: Roland Barthes Mythologies (1957) is admittedly an ideological critique of ........................ .

Mythologies critiques the language of so-called mass culture.Roland Barthes's Mythologies collects short essays on everyday French mass culture: wrestling, soap-powder advertising, steak and chips, striptease, the Citroen DS. Its long theoretical essay 'Myth Today' shows how such signs turn historical, ideological values into 'nature', and Barthes describes the book as an ideological critique of the language of mass culture.The book is not about sacred traditions, literary theory or the classical heritage; its objects are deliberately ordinary and contemporary.

Q: Arrange the following books in the order in which they appeared. Use the code given below :(i) Politics(ii) The State and Revolution(iii) The Republic(iv) The LeviathanCode :

The order is (iii) (i) (iv) (ii).Plato's The Republic, about 375 BCE (iii)Aristotle's Politics, about 350 BCE (i)Hobbes's Leviathan, 1651 (iv)Lenin's The State and Revolution, 1917 (ii)Aristotle was Plato's pupil, so Politics comes after The Republic; the orders starting with (i) or (ii) are therefore wrong, and Lenin's work is by far the latest.

81.

Lionel Trilling's essay "Freud and Literature" was written in the year ..................... .

A.1940
B.1942
C.1945
D.1948

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2025, SET Exam - 2025,

Answer: A

The essay dates from 1940.

Lionel Trilling's 'Freud and Literature' first appeared in 1940 and, revised, was collected in The Liberal Imagination (1950). It examines Freud's account of art and argues that the mind, as Freud described it, is in its very constitution a poetry-making organ.

The other years do not match: the essay was revised in 1947 and collected in 1950, and neither of those dates is offered, so 1940 is the year of its writing and first publication.

Discuss in Forum

82.

Roland Barthes Mythologies (1957) is admittedly an ideological critique of ........................ .

A.The sacred traditions of Europe
B.The predominance of literary theory
C.The ancient Greek and Roman heritage of French Culture
D.The language of so-called mass culture

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2025, SET Exam - 2025,

Answer: D

Mythologies critiques the language of so-called mass culture.

Roland Barthes's Mythologies collects short essays on everyday French mass culture: wrestling, soap-powder advertising, steak and chips, striptease, the Citroen DS. Its long theoretical essay 'Myth Today' shows how such signs turn historical, ideological values into 'nature', and Barthes describes the book as an ideological critique of the language of mass culture.

The book is not about sacred traditions, literary theory or the classical heritage; its objects are deliberately ordinary and contemporary.

Discuss in Forum

83.

Arrange the following books in the order in which they appeared. Use the code given below :

(i) Politics
(ii) The State and Revolution
(iii) The Republic
(iv) The Leviathan

Code :

A.(ii) (i) (iii) (iv)
B.(iii) (i) (iv) (ii)
C.(i) (iii) (iv) (ii)
D.(i) (iii) (ii) (iv)

Exam Year(s)

MH SET - 2025, SET Exam - 2025,

Answer: B

The order is (iii) (i) (iv) (ii).

Plato's The Republic, about 375 BCE (iii)
Aristotle's Politics, about 350 BCE (i)
Hobbes's Leviathan, 1651 (iv)
Lenin's The State and Revolution, 1917 (ii)

Aristotle was Plato's pupil, so Politics comes after The Republic; the orders starting with (i) or (ii) are therefore wrong, and Lenin's work is by far the latest.

Discuss in Forum

84.

In Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668), who opens the discussion on behalf of the ancients ?

A.Lisideius
B.Crites
C.Eugenius
D.Neander

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: B

In Dryden's Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668) four speakers, Eugenius, Crites, Lisideius and Neander, discuss the merits of ancient and modern drama, French and English. Crites speaks on behalf of the ancients, upholding the classical drama and the unities. Eugenius argues for the moderns, Lisideius for the French, and Neander, who represents Dryden, for the English drama and Shakespeare. So the speaker for the ancients is Crites.

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85.

The term invective refers to

A.the abusive writing or speech in which there is harsh denunciation of some person or thing.
B.an insulting writing attack upon a real person, in verse or prose, usually involving caricature and ridicule.
C.a written or spoken text in which an apparently straightforward statement or event is undermined in its context so as to give it a very different significance.
D.the chanting or reciting of words deemed to have magical power.

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: A

Invective is abusive writing or speech in which there is harsh denunciation of a person or thing; a vehement verbal attack. The second option describes a lampoon (a personal satirical attack in verse or prose with caricature), the third describes irony, in which a statement is undermined by its context, and the fourth describes an incantation (chanting of words believed to have magical power). The answer is the abusive writing or speech with harsh denunciation. Invective is often found in satire and pamphlets, as in Swift's attacks or in Junius's letters, where the aim is to denounce, not to amuse.

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86.

When one says that "someone is no more" or that "someone has breathed his/ her last", the speaker is resorting to

A.euphism
B.euphony
C.understatement
D.euphemism

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: D

Saying that 'someone is no more' or 'has breathed his last' for 'is dead' is euphemism, the substitution of a mild or indirect expression for one thought blunt or distasteful. 'Euphism' is not the right word, euphony means a pleasant sound, and understatement is a figure that makes a thing less than it is, not specifically a softening of an unpleasant fact. The answer is euphemism. Other euphemisms for death are 'passed away' and 'departed', and the figure is used to avoid directness about distressing matters.

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87.

Which of the following is a better definition of an image in literary writing ?

A.A reflection
B.A speaking picture
C.A refraction
D.A reflected picture

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: B

An image in literary writing is a 'speaking picture', a word-picture that makes the reader see, feel or sense something, in the phrase borrowed from Sidney's Defence of Poesy. It is not a reflection, a refraction or a reflected picture, which describe the optical image in a mirror or lens, not the verbal one. The answer is a speaking picture. A literal reflection or refraction is a matter of optics, and the literary image is a figure of speech or a picture made in words.

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88.

Whom did Keats regard as the prime example of 'negative capability' ?

A.John Milton
B.William Wordsworth
C.William Shakespeare
D.P.B. Shelley

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: C

Keats formed the idea of 'negative capability' in a letter of December 1817 to his brothers, saying it is when a man is 'capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason', and gave Shakespeare as the chief example. Milton, Wordsworth and Shelley are not named as examples; Wordsworth is the poet of the 'egotistical sublime' for Keats. The answer is William Shakespeare.

Discuss in Forum

89.

(i) A pastiche is a mixture of themes, stylistic elements or subjects borrowed from other works.
(ii) It is distinguished from parody because not all parody is pastiche
(iii) A pastiche is also known as a 'purple passage'.
(iv) A pastiche is given to an elevated style, especially in its use of figurative language.

A.(i) and (ii) are correct.
B.only (i) is correct.
C.(iii) and (iv) are correct.
D.only (iv) is correct.

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: A

A pastiche is a work that imitates, or is made up of, themes, stylistic elements or subjects borrowed from other works, so (i) is correct. It is distinguished from parody because a pastiche imitates without mockery, and so not all parody is pastiche, which makes (ii) acceptable as the official reading. A pastiche is not a 'purple passage', which is an over-ornate piece of writing, so (iii) is wrong, and (iv) is also wrong because a pastiche is not tied to an elevated style. The answer is (i) and (ii).

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90.

Which of the following statements on Pathetic Fallacy is NOT TRUE ?

A.This term applies to descriptions that are not true but imaginary and fanciful.
B.Pathetic Fallacy is generally understood as human traits being applied or attributed to non-human things in nature.
C.In its first use, the term was used with disapproval because nature cannot be equated with the human in respect of emotions and responses.
D.The term was originally used by Alexander Pope in his Pastorals (1709).

Exam Year(s)

UGC NET - 2012,

Answer: D

The statement that is not true is that the term was originally used by Alexander Pope in his Pastorals (1709). The phrase pathetic fallacy was coined by John Ruskin in Modern Painters (1856), in the chapter Of the Pathetic Fallacy, and not by Pope.

The other three statements are true. Ruskin used the term with disapproval, since nature cannot feel as humans do; it is generally understood as the attribution of human traits to nature; and it is a mode in which description is not literally true but imaginative and fanciful.

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