UGC NET English August 2024 Shift 2 Solved Paper: British Literature & Classics

Correct Answer: 2 (A, B and C only)

Hellenistic philosophy (c. 323 BCE – 31 BCE) is characterized by schools like Cynicism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism, which sought to provide individual peace of mind. Surrealism and Expressionism are 20th-century artistic and literary movements.

Correct Answer: 1 (A, C and D only)

Virgil's Aeneid establishes Aeneas as the ancestor of the Roman people. While he is the founder of Lavinium (C), his descendants Romulus and Remus found Rome. Structurally, the first six books follow the Odyssean pattern of wandering (D), while the latter six follow the Iliadic pattern of warfare.

Correct Answer: 3 (E, C, D, B, A)

Chronology:
1. Wycliffe's Bible (c. 1382): Manuscript era.
2. Gutenberg Bible (1455): European printing begins.
3. History of Troy (1473): First English book (printed abroad).
4. Caxton’s Press (1476): Established at Westminster.
5. Morte D'Arthur (1485): One of Caxton's most famous printed works.

Correct Answer: 1 (E, D, B, A, C)

Chronology:
1. The Prince (1513): Written by Machiavelli.
2. Utopia (1516): Published by More.
3. 95 Theses (1517): Nailed by Luther.
4. Orlando Furioso (1532): Final expanded edition.
5. Book of Common Prayer (1549): English Reformation liturgical text.

Correct Answer: 4 (B, D, C, A, E)

Shakespearean Chronology:
1. Taming of the Shrew (c. 1590): Early comedy.
2. Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595): Lyrical tragedy.
3. Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598): High comedy.
4. Twelfth Night (c. 1601): Festive comedy.
5. The Winter’s Tale (c. 1610): Late romance.

Correct Answer: 2 (Sir Francis Bacon)

This aphorism is found in Francis Bacon’s The Advancement of Learning (1605). As the "Father of Empiricism," Bacon advocated for the scientific method and inductive reasoning. He believed that intellectual growth requires a willingness to question established dogmas (doubts) to reach verifiable truths (certainties).

Correct Answer: 1 (Alexander Pope)

In his landmark work An Essay on Criticism (1711), Alexander Pope defines "True Wit" through the famous couplet: “True wit is nature to advantage dressed, / What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.” Neoclassical theory prioritized the refinement and elegant presentation of universal truths over the Romantic ideal of radical originality.

Correct Answer: 3 (A and C only)

The Kit-Cat Club was a 17th/18th-century club with strong Whig political leanings. Key members included the famous essayist duo Addison (E) and Steele (B), along with playwright William Congreve (D).

• George Etherege (A): Was a Restoration dramatist associated with the earlier courtly circles of Charles II, not this specific Whig club.
• Samuel Johnson (C): While a giant of the 18th century, he was a Tory and famously associated with "The Literary Club" (or simply "The Club"), which he founded much later in 1764.

Correct Answer: 4 (The Rehearsal by George Villiers)

George Villiers' The Rehearsal (1671) is a meta-theatrical satire directed at the bombastic conventions of Heroic Tragedy. The character 'Bayes' is a direct caricature of John Dryden. The play lampoons the absurdly high-flown language and artificial plots common in Dryden and Thomas Otway's dramas.

Correct Answer: 3 (William Hazlitt)

These lines belong to William Hazlitt, one of the most passionate prose stylists of the Romantic era. Unlike the more whimsical Charles Lamb, Hazlitt’s criticism was intensely subjective and energetic, viewing poetry as an emotional necessity rather than just a literary category.

Correct Answer: 3 (Book X)

The epigraph—where Adam asks God if he requested to be molded from clay—comes from Book X of Paradise Lost. Mary Shelley uses this to draw a parallel between the Creature and Adam (and also Satan), highlighting the Creature’s existential resentment toward his creator, Victor Frankenstein.

Correct Answer: 3 (The abuse of power by a tyrannical government)

Written by the anarchist philosopher William Godwin, Caleb Williams (1794) is a pioneering political novel. It critiques the legal and social systems of the time, showing how the "machinery" of law and a tyrannical government can be used to destroy an innocent individual to protect the reputation of the powerful.

Correct Answer: 4 (A and C only)

This question tests your precision regarding titles. Here is the breakdown of Mary Wollstonecraft's actual bibliography:

• B (1790): Vindication of the Rights of Men (A response to Edmund Burke).
• D (1792): A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Her foundational feminist text).
• E (1798): Maria: or, The Wrongs of Woman (Her posthumous, unfinished novel).

Why A and C are incorrect:

• A: The Wrongs of Man is a fictitious title designed to confuse you with "The Wrongs of Woman."
• C: Her actual debut work was Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), not "Sons."

Correct Answer: 3 (Jane Austen)

Jane Austen wrote Plan of a Novel, According to Hints from Various Quarters (1815). It is a short, humorous satire that mocks the stereotypical "perfect heroine" and the absurd plot suggestions she received from her librarian and other acquaintances. It showcases her sharp wit and refusal to conform to the sentimental novel tropes of her time.

Correct Answer: 1 (Men's Wives)

William Makepeace Thackeray published Men's Wives in 1843 in Fraser's Magazine. This collection includes stories like The Ravenswing and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Berry. Thackeray uses these narratives to expose the performative nature of Victorian marriages and the often-cynical exploitation that occurred behind closed domestic doors.

Correct Answer: 1 (Culture and Anarchy)

Matthew Arnold's Friendship's Garland is a collection of satirical letters that serves as a sequel to Culture and Anarchy. While the latter is a formal philosophical treatise on "Sweetness and Light," the former uses the persona of a fictional Prussian, Arminius von Thunder-ten-Tronckh, to mock the "Philistinism" (materialism and lack of culture) of the English middle class.

Correct Answer: 4 (B, C and E only)

The Metaphysical Society (1869–1880) was a unique intellectual forum designed to facilitate dialogue between the conflicting forces of the Victorian age: Religion and Science.

• T.H. Huxley (B): Represented the scientific front; he famously coined the term "agnostic" during his time with the society.
• Alfred Tennyson (C): Represented the poetic and spiritual inquiry into the soul and immortality.
• William Gladstone (E): The Prime Minister, who brought political and theological weight to the debates.

Why A and D are incorrect: While Robert Browning and Matthew Arnold were giants of the era, they were not official members of this specific society. Arnold, in fact, was often skeptical of such organized debates.

Correct Answer: 2 (A Study in Scarlet)

Published in 1887, A Study in Scarlet is the novel that introduced the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his chronicler Dr. John Watson. While the Strand Magazine later popularized the short stories starting in 1891, the true debut occurred in this novel, which established Holmes' methods of deduction and his profession as a "consulting detective."

Correct Answer: 4 (The Rainbow)

D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love (1920) serves as a sequel to The Rainbow (1915). While The Rainbow traces three generations of the Brangwen family, Women in Love continues the story of Ursula Brangwen and her sister Gudrun, delving deeper into their romantic and philosophical lives in modern society.

Correct Answer: 3 (Maurice)

Written in 1913–1914 but published posthumously in 1971, Maurice is E.M. Forster's only novel that explicitly explores homosexual love. The story follows the emotional and sexual awakening of the protagonist, Maurice Hall, as he defies societal and legal norms to find self-acceptance.

Correct Answer: 2 (Eligible writers shall belong to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth countries)

This statement is no longer correct. Since 2014, the Booker Prize eligibility was expanded to include any author writing in English and published in the UK or Ireland, regardless of nationality. Regarding statement 3, the prize was established in 1968 by Booker-McConnell (a multinational company), and it was indeed conceptualized as an English-language counterpart to France's Prix Goncourt.

Answer: None of the Above / Technical Error in Paper

This question contains a factual error in the options provided by the NTA. Here are the correct historical pairings:

• A. Wole Soyinka (IV): 1986 (First African Nobelist in Literature).
• B. Nadine Gordimer (I): 1991 (Anti-apartheid South African writer).
• C. Derek Walcott: 1992 (The options list 1993/2003/1986/1991, none of which are correct for Walcott).
• D. J.M. Coetzee (III): 2003 (South African-Australian novelist).

Note: Toni Morrison won in 1993, which might have been the intended "II" for the list if Walcott was replaced. For exam purposes, Option 3 is the only one that correctly matches Soyinka, Gordimer, and Coetzee.