Table of Contents
- Question 75: Avant-Garde Movements and Founders
- Question 76: Match List - Russian Literature & Genres
- Question 77: Doris Lessing's Works and Themes
- Question 78: Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's "Literature in Schools"
- Question 79: Edward Kamau Brathwaite's Chronology
- Question 80: Haruki Murakami's Men Without Women
- Question 81: Latin American Literature Traits
Question 75
Identify the correct combinations :
A. Dadaism - Tristan Tzara
B. SuperRealism — Guillaume Apollinaire
C. Surrealism — Filippo Marinetti
D. Futurism — Andre Breton
E. Nihilism — Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev
Choose the correct answer from the options given below: (Note: Question often flagged/dropped due to overlapping mismatched pairs, but A and E are canonically true)
Analyzing the European Avant-Garde movements and Russian literary themes:
- (A) True: Tristan Tzara was a Romanian-French avant-garde poet and one of the founders of the Dada movement (centered in Zürich).
- (E) True: Ivan Turgenev's highly influential novel Fathers and Sons (1862) popularized the concept and philosophy of Russian Nihilism (through the character Bazarov).
Why C and D are wrong: They are swapped. Filippo Marinetti is the founder of Italian Futurism. André Breton is the founder and principal theorist of French Surrealism.
Question 76
Identify the correct combination among the following :
A. Demons — Novel
B. Landlady — Novella
C. The Crocodile — Short-Story
D. A Writer's Diary — Essay
E. Mary Stuart — Translation
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below : (Note: Dropped/Flagged in official keys due to nuanced genre classifications, but A, B, and C are correct for Dostoevsky)
- (A) True: Demons (also known as The Possessed) is a massive 1871 Novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
- (B) True: The Landlady is an 1847 Novella by Dostoevsky.
- (C) True: The Crocodile is a satirical 1865 Short Story by Dostoevsky.
A Writer's Diary is a massive collection of essays and short fiction. Mary Stuart is originally a verse play by Friedrich Schiller, though it has been translated.
Question 77
Which of these is a correct combination of the works by Doris Lessing and their respective themes?
A. The Golden Notebook deals with Johor travelling to Rhonda
B. The Good Terrorist is about a doomed love affair.
C. Shikasta is about a planet cut off due to the advanced influence of civilisation.
D. Alfred and Emily explore the life of her parents
E. The Grass is Singing draws from her experiences in Africa.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below: (Note: Dropped by NTA)
Analyzing the works of British-Zimbabwean Nobel laureate Doris Lessing:
- (C) True: Shikasta (1979) is a science fiction novel about a planet (Earth) influenced by galactic empires.
- (D) True: Alfred and Emily (2008) is a hybrid fiction/memoir exploring the lives of Lessing's parents and how WWI affected them.
- (E) True: The Grass Is Singing (1950) is her debut novel, set in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), dealing heavily with African racial politics.
Why A and B are wrong: The Golden Notebook is about the writer Anna Wulf synthesizing her fragmented life into a single notebook. The Good Terrorist is primarily a political novel about a naïve drifter (Alice) drawn into a radical squatting group in London.
Question 78
Which among the following is appropriate about Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s article “Literature in schools”?
A. The article discusses the relevance and adequacy of the present education system.
B. It advocates the teaching of European texts and literature to the students of third-world countries.
C. It reflects negatively upon the literature taught to Kenyan students in National Schools
D. It argues that cultural imperialism distorts people's vision of history
E. It observes that European teachers are better equipped to teach literature to Kenyan students.
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's critical work focuses heavily on decolonizing the African education system.
In "Literature in Schools," he argues strongly against the colonial legacy in education. Therefore, he questions the relevance of the present system (A), reflects negatively on the Eurocentric literature forced upon Kenyan students (C), and argues that cultural imperialism distorts the colonized people's vision of their own history (D).
Why B and E are wrong: Ngũgĩ vehemently opposes the continued focus on European texts (B) and firmly rejects the idea that foreign, imperialist teachers should be instructing Kenyan students on their own culture (E).
Question 79
Match the following works of Edward Brathwaite according to their year of publication:
| List I (Work) | List II (Year) |
|---|---|
| A. Rights of Passage | I. 1973 |
| B. Islands | II. 1969 |
| C. Masks | III. 1967 |
| D. The Arrivants | IV. 1968 |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
Edward Kamau Brathwaite was a foundational Caribbean poet and scholar. His masterpiece is a poetic trilogy that was later collected into one volume.
- (A) Rights of Passage: (III) 1967. The first book of the trilogy.
- (C) Masks: (IV) 1968. The second book of the trilogy.
- (B) Islands: (II) 1969. The final book of the trilogy.
- (D) The Arrivants: (I) 1973. The publication year when all three books were collected and published together as a single volume titled The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy.
Question 80
When was Haruki Murakami's Men Without Women published?
Men Without Women is a collection of short stories by the acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami, originally published in Japanese in 2014. (It was later translated into English in 2017).
The collection intentionally shares its title with Ernest Hemingway's second short story collection. The stories revolve around men who have lost the women in their lives, either to death or to other men, exploring themes of loneliness and isolation.
Question 81
Which among the following are appropriate about Latin American Literature?
A. There has been racial coherence and unity in literary representations of Latin America
B. The Latin American Literary tradition draws an analogy between plant growth and human movement
C. Dzul Poot’s stories depict the geography of the Chilam Balam Towns
D. Quechua had wider popularity and presence across different nations.
E. Latin American Literature is unitary and refrains from intertextuality of any kind
Choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Latin American literature is incredibly diverse, stemming from Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous roots (and globally famous for the "Latin American Boom" of Magical Realism).
(D) True: Quechua is an indigenous language family that had (and has) wide presence across several Andean nations (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador).
Why A and E are wrong: Latin America is famously a site of mestizaje (racial/cultural mixing) and immense post-colonial conflict; there is absolutely no unified "racial coherence" (A is false). The literature is highly postmodern, fragmented, and relies heavily on intertextuality (E is completely false).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Dadaism and Futurism?
Dadaism (founded by Tristan Tzara) was a nihilistic, anti-art movement born out of the horrors of WWI, focusing on absurdity, chaos, and nonsense to protest bourgeois logic. Futurism (founded by F.T. Marinetti in Italy) glorified technology, speed, youth, industrial cities, and violence, often aligning with fascist ideologies.
Who was Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and what is his main argument?
He is a Kenyan author and postcolonial theorist. His primary argument (found in works like Decolonising the Mind and his essays on education) is that African writers and schools must abandon the English language and Eurocentric texts, as they perpetuate cultural imperialism and alienate Africans from their own heritage.
What comprises Kamau Brathwaite's "The Arrivants" trilogy?
It is a seminal poetic trilogy exploring Caribbean identity, the trauma of the Middle Passage, and African roots. The three books are Rights of Passage (1967), Masks (1968), and Islands (1969).
What characterizes Latin American Magical Realism?
It is a literary style (popularized by Gabriel García Márquez) where fantastical, supernatural, or mythical elements are introduced into otherwise mundane, realistic, and everyday settings as if they are completely normal occurrences.
