Literary Theory Solved Questions

Section Overview: This section focuses on modern literary theory, covering Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and Post-Colonial Studies.

Q49. Assertion A: Poststructuralism and deconstruction are virtually synonymous.
Reason R: Deconstruction arises out of the structuralism of Roland Barthes as a reaction against the certainties of structuralism.
  • 1. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A
  • 2. Both A and R are correct but R is NOT the correct explanation of A
  • 3. A is correct but R is not correct
  • 4. A is not correct but R is correct
Correct Answer: 1. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The Concept: Deconstruction (founded by Derrida) is the most famous strand of Poststructuralism. They are often used interchangeably because both critique the idea of a stable, centered structure in language.
  • The Transition (Reason R): Poststructuralism arose as a reaction against the "certainties" of Structuralism. Roland Barthes signaled this shift (e.g., "The Death of the Author"), pushing the idea that if signs only refer to other signs, meaning is never final.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Paradigm Shift: It tests the ability to map the move from Structuralism (Scientific certainty) to Poststructuralism (Play/Instability).
Q50. Which of the following descriptions of arbitrary nature of the sign given by Ferdinand de Saussure in his book Course in General Linguistics is incorrect?
  • 1. The bond between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary.
  • 2. The linguistic sign is arbitrary.
  • 3. The word symbol has been used to designate the linguistic meaning or more specifically, the signified.
  • 4. Symbol is never wholly arbitrary; it is not empty, for there is the rudiment of a natural bond between the signifier and the signified.
Correct Answer: 3. The word symbol has been used to designate the linguistic meaning or more specifically, the signified.

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • Saussure’s Core Concept: The linguistic sign is a composite of a Signifier (sound-image) and a Signified (concept). This bond is Arbitrary (e.g., no natural reason "tree" means a tree).
  • The "Symbol" Problem: Saussure rejects the word "symbol" for the linguistic sign. He argues a symbol (like scales for Justice) is never wholly arbitrary because there is a "rudiment of a natural bond."
  • Why Option 3 is Incorrect: Saussure does not use "symbol" to designate the signified; he specifically avoids it to maintain the distinction of arbitrariness.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Structuralist Bedrock: You must distinguish between Saussure's precise terminology (Sign) and general terms (Symbol).
Q51. According to Freud’s example in his Interpretation of Dreams, the psychoanalytic critic tends to associate symbols with images. Which of the following symbols is not correct in that context?
  • 1. Ponds as female or yonic symbols
  • 2. Flowers as female or yonic symbols
  • 3. Towers as symbols of sexual pleasure
  • 4. Lances as male or phallic symbols
Correct Answer: 3. Towers as symbols of sexual pleasure

Detailed Explanation & Research:

Freud argued the unconscious disguises desires through symbols:

  • Phallic Symbols (Male): Objects that are long/upright (Lances, Sticks, Towers, Umbrellas).
  • Yonic Symbols (Female): Objects that are hollow/receptive (Ponds, Caves, Boxes, Flowers).
  • The Error (Option 3): While a Tower is a phallic symbol, it specifically represents the male organ or paternal power, not the abstract concept of "sexual pleasure" itself.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Decoding Latent Meaning: The NTA expects familiarity with Freudian symbology to analyze texts like Hamlet or Sons and Lovers.
Q52. According to whom, “the interaction between introjection and projection helps to constitute the ego and the SUPEREGO and to lay the foundations for the OEDIPUS COMPLEX”?
  • 1. Sandor Ferenczi
  • 2. Robert Young
  • 3. Sigmund Freud
  • 4. Melanie Klein
Correct Answer: 4. Melanie Klein

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The Theory: This statement identifies the core of Melanie Klein’s contributions (Object Relations Theory).
  • Introjection vs. Projection:
    • Introjection: Taking external objects/qualities into the self.
    • Projection: Extruding internal feelings onto external objects.
  • Klein vs. Freud: Unlike Freud, who saw the Superego as a later development (age 5), Klein argued these processes begin in infancy, building the psychological framework that eventually hosts the Oedipus Complex.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Post-Freudian Theory: It tests knowledge of thinkers who applied psychoanalysis to early childhood. Klein is pivotal for analyzing pre-oedipal stages in literature.
Q53. Assertion A: The technique of art is to make objects “unfamiliar” to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception.
Reason R: The process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged.
  • 1. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A
  • 2. Both A and R are correct but R is NOT the correct explanation of A
  • 3. A is correct but R is not correct
  • 4. A is not correct but R is correct
Correct Answer: 1. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The Movement: These are the foundational principles of Russian Formalism, specifically Victor Shklovsky’s essay "Art as Technique" (1917).
  • Defamiliarization (Ostranenie): Shklovsky argued that habitual perception makes things "automatic." Art exists to "de-automatize" perception—making the familiar seem strange.
  • The Aesthetic End: By making form difficult, art forces the reader to truly see the object. The process of perception is the goal, not just the meaning.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Shift to Form: This is the starting point for "scientific" literary theory. It tests the understanding of the shift from what a text means (content) to how a text works (form).
Q54. Who became known in the popular imagination as the notorious French postmodernist philosopher?
  • 1. Jean Baudrillard
  • 2. Derrida
  • 3. Lyotard
  • 4. Roman Rolland
Correct Answer: 1. Jean Baudrillard [Image of Jean Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulation book cover]

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The "Notorious" Label: Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) earned a reputation as "notorious" due to his provocative claims about reality.
  • Key Concepts: Best known for Simulacra and Simulation, arguing the world is now "hyperreal"—where the distinction between reality and simulation has collapsed.
  • Controversy: He famously argued in "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place" that the war was a media spectacle rather than a traditional engagement.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Postmodern Brands: You must distinguish the specific focus of postmodern thinkers:
    • Lyotard: The Postmodern Condition (Meta-narratives).
    • Derrida: Deconstruction (Method).
    • Baudrillard: Hyperreality/Consumerism (Cultural Critique).
Q55. Which of the following works of Feminist criticism have been written by Toril Moi?
A. French Feminist thought: A Reader
B. Feminisms: A Reader
C. Feminist Literary Criticism
D. Sexual/Textual Politics
E. What is a Woman?
  • 1. A, D and E Only
  • 2. A, B, and C Only
  • 3. C, D, and E Only
  • 4. B, C, and D Only
Correct Answer: 1. A, D and E Only [Image of Sexual/Textual Politics by Toril Moi book cover]

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • D. Sexual/Textual Politics (1985): Toril Moi’s most famous work. It critiques Anglo-American critics (like Showalter) for being too "realist" and advocates for the theoretical approach of French feminists (Cixous/Kristeva).
  • A. French Feminist Thought: A Reader (1987): An influential collection introducing continental theorists to English readers.
  • E. What is a Woman? (1999): Revisits the sex/gender distinction and engages with Simone de Beauvoir.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • The Bridge Figure: Toril Moi is the crucial link between Anglo-American Feminism (Gynocriticism) and French Feminism (Écriture féminine).
Q56. Which of the following feminist has questioned the following? “Why did men drink wine and women water? Why was one sex so prosperous and the other so poor? What effect has poverty on fiction? What conditions are necessary for the creation of works of art?”
  • 1. Virginia Woolf
  • 2. Kate Millett
  • 3. Elaine Showalter
  • 4. Jane Freedman
Correct Answer: 1. Virginia Woolf [Image of A Room of One's Own first edition cover]

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The Source: Virginia Woolf’s seminal essay, A Room of One's Own (1929).
  • The Context: Woolf describes a visit to an imaginary university ("Oxbridge"), contrasting the luxurious luncheon served to men with the meager dinner given to women.
  • The Argument: It forms the core of her materialist feminism: that economic independence ("five hundred a year") and private space are absolute prerequisites for creating art.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Material Conditions: This quote marks the shift from seeing women’s writing as a matter of "innate talent" to seeing it as a matter of sociology and economics.
Q57. Match the LIST-I (Concept) with LIST-II (Thinker/Author)

LIST-I
A. “Habitus”
B. “Anaclisis”
C. “Fetishism”
D. “Hyperreality”

LIST-II
I. Pierre Bourdieu
II. Sigmund Freud
III. Alfred Binet
IV. Umberto Eco
  • 1. A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II
  • 2. A-II, B-I, C-III, D-IV
  • 3. A-I, B-II, C-III, D-IV
  • 4. A-IV, B-II, C-III, D-I
Correct Answer: 3. A-I, B-II, C-III, D-IV

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • A-I: Habitus (Pierre Bourdieu): Ingrained habits, skills, and dispositions we possess due to social positioning.
  • B-II: Anaclisis (Sigmund Freud): A psychoanalytic term where the sexual drive attaches to self-preservative instincts (e.g., an infant's love for the mother tied to nourishment).
  • C-III: Fetishism (Alfred Binet): While popularized by Freud, Alfred Binet coined the term in 1887 to describe erotic displacement.
  • D-IV: Hyperreality (Umberto Eco): While often associated with Baudrillard, Eco explored this in Travels in Hyperreality, describing a world of "absolute fakes."

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Interdisciplinary Theory: It tests the ability to map literary theory to its roots in Sociology (Bourdieu), Psychoanalysis (Freud/Binet), and Semiotics (Eco).
Q58. In which of the following phases of modern women’s literary development, according to Elaine Showalter, women writers imitated the dominant male traditions?
  • 1. The colonial-feminism phase
  • 2. The feminist phase
  • 3. The female phase
  • 4. The feminine phase
Correct Answer: 4. The feminine phase

Detailed Explanation & Research:

In A Literature of Their Own (1977), Showalter outlines three stages:

  1. Feminine Phase (1840–1880): Imitation. Women wrote under male pseudonyms (e.g., George Eliot) and adhered to male standards to avoid ridicule.
  2. Feminist Phase (1880–1920): Protest. Literature was used to advocate for rights and critique social norms.
  3. Female Phase (1920 onwards): Self-Discovery. Moving beyond imitation or protest to explore the female experience on its own terms.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Gynocriticism: Showalter is the architect of this school. You must know the progression: Imitation → Protest → Self-Discovery.
Q59. Match the LIST-I (Term) with LIST-II (Meaning):

LIST-I
A. “Feral”
B. “Grand Narrative”
C. “Gaze”
D. “Diegesis”

LIST-II
I. “the way heterosexual women are posited as scopophilic objects of heterosexual male desire”
II. “The interior story as told or depicted specially in film”
III. “the big stories we use to map human history such as Humanism”
IV. “a state halfway between domestic and wild”
  • 1. A-I, B-III, C-II, D-IV
  • 2. A-IV, B-II, C-III, D-I
  • 3. A-IV, B-III, C-I, D-II
  • 4. A-II, B-III, C-I, D-IV
Correct Answer: 3. A-IV, B-III, C-I, D-II

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • A-IV: Feral: A state halfway between domestic and wild (Cultural Studies).
  • B-III: Grand Narrative (Lyotard): Totalizing stories (like Marxism/Enlightenment) that claim to explain all history. Postmodernism is defined by "incredulity" toward these.
  • C-I: Gaze (Laura Mulvey): The "Male Gaze" in film theory, where the camera treats women as objects of desire (scopophilia).
  • D-II: Diegesis: The internal world of the story (Narratology/Film).

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Theoretical Vocabulary: Proficiency in these terms is required to understand academic discourse in Postmodernism, Feminism, and Narratology.
Q60. Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield define the term "Cultural materialism" as designating a critical method having characteristics. Which of the following characteristics has not been included by Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield?
  • 1. Historical context
  • 2. Theoretical method
  • 3. Political commitment
  • 4. Transcendental significance
Correct Answer: 4. Transcendental significance

Detailed Explanation & Research:

Cultural Materialism (the British counterpart to New Historicism) insists that literature is rooted in specific material conditions.

  • The Three Pillars: Dollimore and Sinfield identify Historical context, Theoretical method, and Political commitment (specifically left-wing/socialist).
  • Why "Transcendental" is Rejected: They reject "transcendental significance" because it is a Liberal Humanist concept suggesting literature is timeless. Materialists believe literature is a product of its specific time and power structures.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Materialism vs. Humanism: It tests the ability to distinguish between theories that value "timelessness" (Humanism) and those that value "context" (Materialism).
Q61. Fiona Tolan in "Feminisms" says that if there is a single identifiable theme running through every feminist debate, it is the question of __________
  • 1. Eco-feminism
  • 2. Essentialism
  • 3. Radical Feminism
  • 4. Gynoeriticism
Correct Answer: 2. Essentialism

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The Debate: Essentialism is the belief that there are innate, biological "essences" that define women.
  • Fiona Tolan’s Argument: She argues that almost every branch of feminism (Liberal, Radical, Marxist, French) eventually must take a stand on this issue: Is gender biological or constructed? This tension drives the entire movement.

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Core Philosophical Conflict: Essentialism is a foundational concept in Gender Studies. You must understand why Post-Structuralists (like Butler) reject it while some Radical Feminists embrace it.
Q62. Match the LIST-I (Critical Essay) with LIST-II (Writer)

LIST-I
A. "Keats' Sylvan Historian: History without the Footnotes"
B. "Tools for Reading Poetry"
C. "Three Women's Texts and a Critique of Imperialism"
D. "The Linguistic Foundation"

LIST-II
I. Gayatri C. Spivak
II. Cleanth Brooks
III. Herman Rapaport
IV. Jonathan Culler
  • 1. A-II, B-II. C-IV. D-I
  • 2. A-II, B-III, C-I, D-IV
  • 3. A-III, B-II, C-I, D-IV
  • 4. A-IV, В-I. С-П, D-1
Correct Answer: 2. A-II, B-III, C-I, D-IV

Detailed Explanation:

(Note: This is a variation of Question 48, reinforcing the importance of these texts.)

  • A-II: Cleanth Brooks: "Keats' Sylvan Historian" (New Criticism).
  • B-III: Herman Rapaport: "Tools for Reading Poetry" (Contemporary).
  • C-I: Gayatri C. Spivak: "Three Women's Texts..." (Postcolonial Feminism).
  • D-IV: Jonathan Culler: "The Linguistic Foundation" (Structuralism).
Q63. Who amongst the following postcolonial critics did define colonialism "as the conquest and control of other people’s land and goods.”?
  • 1. Meenakshi Mukherjee
  • 2. Leela Gandhi
  • 3. Harish Trivedi
  • 4. Ania Loomba
Correct Answer: 4. Ania Loomba

Detailed Explanation & Research:

  • The Source: In her influential book Colonialism/Postcolonialism (1998), Ania Loomba provides this definition.
  • The Significance: She emphasizes that colonialism is not just a cultural exchange or discourse but a material act of physical conquest and economic dispossession ("land and goods").

Why this question is asked in UGC NET English:

  • Foundational Texts: Loomba's book is a standard textbook for the field. The question ensures you understand the material reality of colonial history alongside its literary representation.
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