Table of Contents
- Question 41: Definition of a Poet
- Question 42: William Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity
- Question 43: Match Authors to Essays/Texts
- Question 44: Bricolage in Derridean Usage
- Question 45: Origin of "Speculative Fiction"
- Question 46: Definition of Anthropocene
- Question 47: Defamiliarization (Ostranenie)
- Question 48: Identifying F.R. Leavis's Works
- Question 49: Chronology of Critical Texts
- Question 50: Match Writer to Concept
Question 41
Who has defined a poet in the following words:
“The poet, described in ideal perfection, brings the whole soul of man into activity, with the subordination of its faculties to each other according to their relative worth and dignity.”
This famous definition of the ideal poet appears in Chapter 14 of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Biographia Literaria (1817).
In this passage, Coleridge proceeds to define how the poet achieves this unity through the "synthetic and magical power, to which I would exclusively appropriate the name of Imagination," which balances and reconciles opposite or discordant qualities.
Question 42
Which among the following statements do not relate to William Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity.
A. Empson uses the term 'ambiguity' to refer to any verbal nuance which may give room for alternative reaction to the same piece of literature
B. The first type of ambiguity is simple metaphor which may be effective in several ways at once
C. The third type of ambiguity consists of two apparently disconnected meanings given simultaneously
D. Empson calls the fifth type of ambiguity as 'unfortunate confusion' with examples from Shelley and Swinburne
E. Seventh type of ambiguity refers to the division in the reader's mind
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
The statements that are NOT accurate regarding Empson's 1930 New Critical text are D and E:
(D) is false: The fifth type of ambiguity is a "fortunate confusion," describing an idea discovered by the author in the very act of writing, not an "unfortunate" one.
(E) is false: The seventh type of ambiguity refers to a fundamental division in the author's mind (expressed by two contradictory words), not the reader's mind.
Statements A, B, and C accurately reflect Empson's definitions for his framework.
Question 43
Match List I with List II
| List I (Work) | List II (Author) |
|---|---|
| A. The English Comic Writers | I. David Hume |
| B. Essays Moral and Political | II. William Hazlitt |
| C. The Second Sex | III. Robert Wilson Lynd |
| D. The Pleasures of Ignorance | IV. Simone de Beauvoir |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
A. Lectures on the English Comic Writers (1819) — (II) William Hazlitt. A seminal collection of literary criticism.
B. Essays, Moral and Political (1741) — (I) David Hume. Essays by the empiricist philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment.
C. The Second Sex (1949) — (IV) Simone de Beauvoir. The foundational feminist and existentialist text.
D. The Pleasures of Ignorance (1921) — (III) Robert Wilson Lynd. An essay collection by the Irish writer.
Question 44
What does bricolage mean in the Derridean usage?
Originally utilized by anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, bricolage refers to the creative reassembly of pre-existing materials to produce something novel.
In Jacques Derrida's post-structuralist usage (found in "Structure, Sign, and Play"), bricolage is the necessity of borrowing concepts from various existing sources and reshaping them because no discourse can claim a pure origin or absolute originality. All thinkers are "bricoleurs" working with the flawed linguistic tools they inherit.
Question 45
Who among the following coined the term "Speculative Fiction"?
The term "Speculative Fiction" was popularized and coined as a distinct genre category by the influential American sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein in an editorial published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1947.
Note: Hugo Gernsback is considered the "Father of Science Fiction" for launching Amazing Stories, but he did not coin the specific umbrella term "Speculative Fiction."
Question 46
Paul J. Crutzen describes 'Anthropocene' as :
Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen popularized the term "Anthropocene" in 2000 to describe the current geological epoch, defining it by the decisive, profound, and global impact that human activities have had on the Earth's environment, climate, and biosphere.
The other options mistakenly apply political or post-structuralist philosophical jargon to a fundamentally environmental/scientific term used in Eco-criticism.
Question 47
Who has defined defamiliarization (ostranenie) as an aesthetic technique implying the renewal of perception?
Viktor Shklovsky, a seminal figure in Russian Formalism, introduced the concept of ostranenie, or defamiliarization (estrangement) in his pivotal 1917 essay "Art as Technique" ("Art as Device").
He defined it as an artistic technique that forces the audience to see common things in an unfamiliar or strange way, thereby prolonging the aesthetic experience and renewing our perception of the everyday world.
Question 48
Which among the following is not written by F.R. Leavis?
Culture and Practical Reason (1976) was written by the renowned American cultural anthropologist Marshall Sahlins, not F.R. Leavis.
Other Explanations:
Frank Raymond Leavis was a dominant mid-20th-century English literary critic. He did write Education and the University (1), English Literature in Our Time and the University (3), and Revaluation (4), along with his most famous work, The Great Tradition (1948).
Question 49
Arrange the following critical texts chronologically on the basis of their publication:
A. The Historical Novel (György Lukács)
B. The New Criticism (John Crowe Ransom)
C. The Business of Criticism (Helen Gardner)
D. The Political Unconscious (Fredric Jameson)
E. Essays on Ideology (Louis Althusser)
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
The correct chronological sequence of these critical texts is:
- (B) The New Criticism (1941): John Crowe Ransom.
- (A) The Historical Novel (1955): György Lukács (written earlier in Russian/German, but widely published in the 50s/60s).
- (C) The Business of Criticism (1959): Helen Gardner.
- (E) Essays on Ideology (1969/1971): Louis Althusser (incorporating "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses").
- (D) The Political Unconscious (1981): Fredric Jameson.
Question 50
Match List I with List II
| List I (Writer) | List II (Concept) |
|---|---|
| A. Hugo Gernsback | I. Biopolitics |
| B. Edmund Husserl | II. Phenomenology |
| C. J.C. Ransom | III. Science Fiction Novel |
| D. Michel Foucault | IV. New Criticism |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
A. Hugo Gernsback — (III) Science Fiction Novel. The pioneering editor and publisher (Amazing Stories) recognized as "The Father of Science Fiction."
B. Edmund Husserl — (II) Phenomenology. The German philosopher who founded the school of Phenomenology.
C. J.C. Ransom — (IV) New Criticism. Author of the 1941 book The New Criticism.
D. Michel Foucault — (I) Biopolitics. The French historian/philosopher who explored the concept of biopolitics (how political power administers human life).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Defamiliarization" in literary theory?
Coined as ostranenie by Russian Formalist Viktor Shklovsky in 1917, defamiliarization is the artistic technique of presenting common things in an unfamiliar or strange way in order to enhance perception of the familiar.
What does Jacques Derrida mean by "Bricolage"?
Borrowing the term from Levi-Strauss, Derrida uses "bricolage" to describe how all philosophical and literary discourse relies on borrowing pre-existing concepts and language to reshape them for new needs, undermining the idea of "pure originality."
Who coined the term "Anthropocene"?
The term was popularized in 2000 by atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen to describe the current geological epoch, defined by the decisive human impact on Earth's environment and biosphere.
What is "Biopolitics"?
A concept primarily developed by Michel Foucault, biopolitics refers to the strategies and mechanisms through which human life processes (birth, death, health, sickness) are managed and regulated by political power.
