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"I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
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07 May 2018, 04:58
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"I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense." Virginia Woolf's provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the "poetic" novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness. But Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny. In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or de-formed) by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people's lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people's fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time.
Woolf's focus on society has not been generally recognized because of her intense antipathy to propaganda in art. The pictures of reformers in her novels are usually satiric or sharply critical. Even when Woolf is fundamentally sympathetic to their causes, she portrays people anxious to reform their society and possessed of a message or program as arrogant or dishonest, unaware of how their political ideas serve their own psychological needs. (Her Writer's Diary notes: "the only honest people are the artists," whereas "these social reformers and philanthropists ... harbor ... discreditable desires under the disguise of loving their kind....") Woolf detested what she called "preaching" in fiction, too, and criticized novelist D. H. Lawrence (among others) for working by this method.
Woolf's own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary since for her, fiction is a contemplative, not an active art. She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues: it is the reader's work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them. As a moralist, Woolf works by indirection, subtly undermining officially accepted mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirist's art. Woolf's literary models were acute social observers like Chekhov and Chaucer. As she put it in The Common Reader, "It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote; and yet, as we read him, we are absorbing morality at every pore." Like Chaucer, Woolf chose to understand as well as to judge, to know her society root and branch—a decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic.
Question 1
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Question Stats:
65% (03:28) correct
35% (03:30) wrong based on 49 sessions
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1.Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
(A) Poetry and Satire as Influences on the Novels of Virginia Woolf (B) Virginia Woolf: Critic and Commentator on the Twentieth-Century Novel (C) Trends in Contemporary Reform Movements as a Key to Understanding Virginia Woolf's Novels (D) Society as Allegory for the Individual in the Novels of Virginia Woolf (E) Virginia Woolf's Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society
56% (01:13) correct
44% (02:04) wrong based on 45 sessions
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3.It can be inferred from the passage that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary model because she believed that
(A) Chaucer was the first English author to focus on society as a whole as well as on individual characters (B) Chaucer was an honest and forthright author, whereas novelists like D. H. Lawrence did not sincerely wish to change society (C) Chaucer was more concerned with understanding his society than with calling its accepted mores into question (D) Chaucer's writing was great, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers (E) her own novels would be more widely read if, like Chaucer, she did not overtly and vehemently criticize contemporary society
66% (01:18) correct
34% (01:16) wrong based on 44 sessions
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4.It can be inferred from the passage that the most probable reason Woolf realistically described the social setting in the majority of her novels was that she
(A) was aware that contemporary literary critics considered the novel to be the most realistic of literary genres (B) was interested in the effect of a person's social milieu on his or her character and actions (C) needed to be as attentive to detail as possible in her novels in order to support the arguments she advanced in them (D) wanted to show that a painstaking fidelity in the representation of reality did not in any way hamper the artist (E) wished to prevent critics from charging that her novels were written in an ambiguous and inexact style
51% (01:28) correct
49% (01:25) wrong based on 49 sessions
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5.Which of the following phrases best expresses the sense of the word "contemplative" as it is used in lines 43-44 of the passage?
(A) Gradually elucidating the rational structures underlying accepted more (B) Reflecting on issues in society without prejudice or emotional commitment (C) Avoiding the aggressive assertion of the author's perspective to the exclusion of the reader's judgment (D) Conveying a broad view of society as a whole rather than focusing on an isolated individual consciousness (E) Appreciating the world as the artist sees it rather than judging it in moral terms
64% (01:12) correct
36% (01:51) wrong based on 39 sessions
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6.The author implies that a major element of the satirist's art is the satirist's
(A) consistent adherence to a position of lofty disdain when viewing the foibles of humanity (B) insistence on the helplessness of individuals against the social forces that seek to determine an individual's fate (C) cynical disbelief that visionaries can either enlighten or improve their societies (D) fundamental assumption that some ambiguity must remain in a work of art in order for it to reflect society and social mores accurately (E) refusal to indulge in polemic when presenting social mores to readers for their scrutiny
60% (01:16) correct
40% (01:14) wrong based on 45 sessions
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7.The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions?
(A) Have literary critics ignored the social criticism inherent in the works of Chekhov and Chaucer? (B) Does the author believe that Woolf is solely an introspective and visionary novelist? (C) What are the social causes with which Woolf shows herself to be sympathetic in her writings? (D) \Vas D. H. Lawrence as concerned as Woolf was with creating realistic settings for his novels? (E) Does Woolf attribute more power to social environment or to historical forces as shapers of a person's life?
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
10 Nov 2018, 17:31
1
Carcass wrote:
"I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense." Virginia Woolf's provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the "poetic" novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness. But Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny. In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or de-formed) by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people's lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people's fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time.
Woolf's focus on society has not been generally recognized because of her intense antipathy to propaganda in an. The pictures of reformers in her novels are usually satiric or sharply critical. Even when Woolf is fundamentally sympathetic to their causes, she portrays people anxious to reform their society and possessed of a message or program as arrogant or dishonest, unaware of how their political ideas serve their own psychological needs. (Her Writer's Diary notes: "the only honest people are the artists," whereas "these social reformers and philanthropists ... harbor ... discreditable desires under the disguise of loving their kind....") Woolf detested what she called "preaching" in fiction, too, and criticized novelist D. H. Lawrence (among others) for working by this method.
Woolf's own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary since for her, fiction is a contemplative, not an active art. She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues: it is the reader's work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them. As a moralist, Woolf works by indirection, subtly undermining officially accepted mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hen is the satirist's art. Woolf's literary models were acute social observers like Chekhov and Chaucer. As she put it in The Common Reader, "It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote; and yet, as we read him, we are absorbing morality at every pore." Like Chaucer, Woolf chose to understand as well as to judge, to know her society root and branch—a decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic.
Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
(A) Poetry and Satire as Influences on the Novels of Virginia Woolf (B) Virginia Woolf: Critic and Commentator on the Twentieth-Century Novel (C) Trends in Contemporary Reform Movements as a Key to Understanding Virginia Woolf's Novels (D) Society as Allegory for the Individual in the Novels of Virginia Woolf (E) Virginia Woolf's Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society
It can be inferred from the passage that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary model because she believed that
(A) Chaucer was the first English author to focus on society as a whole as well as on individual characters (B) Chaucer was an honest and forthright author, whereas novelists like D. H. Lawrence did not sincerely wish to change society (C) Chaucer was more concerned with understanding his society than with calling its accepted mores into question (D) Chaucer's writing was great, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers (E) her own novels would be more widely read if, like Chaucer, she did not overtly and vehemently criticize contemporary society
It can be inferred from the passage that the most probable reason Woolf realistically described the social setting in the majority of her novels was that she
(A) was aware that contemporary literary critics considered the novel to be the most realistic of literary genres (B) was interested in the effect of a person's social milieu on his or her character and actions (C) needed to be as attentive to detail as possible in her novels in order to support the arguments she advanced in them (D) wanted to show that a painstaking fidelity in the representation of reality did not in any way hamper the artist (E) wished to prevent critics from charging that her novels were written in an ambiguous and inexact style
Which of the following phrases best expresses the sense of the word "contemplative" as it is used in lines 43-44 of the passage?
(A) Gradually elucidating the rational structures underlying accepted more (B) Reflecting on issues in society without prejudice or emotional commitment (C) Avoiding the aggressive assertion of the author's perspective to the exclusion of the reader's judgment (D) Conveying a broad view of society as a whole rather than focusing on an isolated individual consciousness (E) Appreciating the world as the artist sees it rather than judging it in moral terms
The author implies that a major element of the satirist's art is the satirist's
(A) consistent adherence to a position of lofty disdain when viewing the foibles of humanity (B) insistence on the helplessness of individuals against the social forces that seek to determine an individual's fate (C) cynical disbelief that visionaries can either enlighten or improve their societies (D) fundamental assumption that some ambiguity must remain in a work of art in order for it to reflect society and social mores accurately (E) refusal to indulge in polemic when present-ing social mores to readers for their scrutiny
The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions?
(A) Have literary critics ignored the social criticism inherent in the works of Chekhov and Chaucer? (B) Does the author believe that Woolf is solely an introspective and visionary novelist? (C) What are the social causes with which Woolf shows herself to be sympathetic in her writings? (D) \Vas D. H. Lawrence as concerned as Woolf was with creating realistic settings for his novels? (E) Does Woolf attribute more power to social environment or to historical forces as shapers of a person's life?
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
11 Nov 2018, 11:05
2
Expert Reply
In this case, question two is a clear example how is important to read the stem very carefully, otherwise, you really miss the point.
Quote:
In the first paragraph of the passage, the author's attitude toward the literary critics mentioned can best be described as
What is asking you is to pinpoint the author's attitude towards those that critic Woolf so harshly.
And the attitude is derogatory towards those critics NOT towards Woolf. Actually, the author says that Woll is much more than the first statement throughout her entire career.
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
04 Dec 2018, 12:21
I wanted to clear some things for this passage and question.
Q. 2. Why is the tone disparaging? Not that I disagree, but I was confused between A and D for this.
Q. 4. I was confused between B and C. I thought the second paragraph offered some support for C.
Q. 7. I want to make sure I did this right and that this is the way to eliminate/choose answers. A and D are eliminated because they deal with a specific part/detail while this is a general question. C- there is no mention of specific social causes. I was confused between B and E but then for E- it never really mentions which one has a greater effect on person's life
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
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03 Jul 2019, 17:14
Expert Reply
(D) \Vas D. H. Lawrence as concerned as Woolf was with creating realistic settings for his novels?
We do know that is not true because Lawrence was concerned NOt in realistinc setting (the adhere to reality) but rather in preaching settings. Preaching means a theoretical yet good and with nice proposal setting.
For instance: practice what you preach means to do what you say to other people they should.
As for the other question in which you pinted ot why not C' Well, the very last sentence says
Woolf chose to understand as well as to judge, to know her society root and branch—a decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic.
From this, you do know the answer is E. C is nowhere addressed along the passage
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
05 Aug 2019, 20:16
2
1. The answer for this question lies in this sentence, “Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people’s live, how class, wealth and gender help to determine people’s fate”.
2. In the first paragraph, authors attitude towards the literary critic is to underestimate them for their work. So option A is the correct one.
3. Yet by absorbing morality at every pore, this was the comment mentioned about Chaucer.
4. The answer lies in this part of the passage, “In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people’s lives, how class, wealth and gender help to determine people’s fate”.
5. The last paragraph about Woolf’s own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary, since for her, contemplative, not an active art. So, option C conveys that art was not active.
6) Option B is the only one that fits this passage.
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
31 May 2020, 04:26
3
1) Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage? POE (A) Poetry and Satire as Influences on the Novels of Virginia Woolf Incorrect- satire is mentioned only in Para 3 (E) Virginia Woolf's Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society correct- This is in tune with overall contents of the passage
2) In the first paragraph of the passage, the author's attitude toward the literary critics mentioned can best be described as (A) disparaging Correct- literary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny
3) It can be inferred from the passage that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary model because she believed that (D) Chaucer's writing was great, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers correct "It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote; and yet, as we read him, we are absorbing morality at every pore.
4) It can be inferred from the passage that the most probable reason Woolf realistically described the social setting in the majority of her novels was that she (B) was interested in the effect of a person's social milieu on his or her character and actions correct- para 1- Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or de-formed) by their social environments…………….
5) Which of the following phrases best expresses the sense of the word "contemplative" as it is used in lines 43-44 of the passage? (B) Reflecting on issues in society without prejudice or emotional commitment incorrect trap answer (C) Avoiding the aggressive assertion of the author's perspective to the exclusion of the reader's judgment Correct- She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues: it is the reader's work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them (E) Appreciating the world as the artist sees it rather than judging it in moral terms incorrect trap answer
6) The author implies that a major element of the satirist's art is the satirist's (E) refusal to indulge in polemic when presenting social mores to readers for their scrutiny Correct As a moralist, Woolf works by indirection, subtly undermining officially accepted mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirist's art
7) The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions? POE (B) Does the author believe that Woolf is solely an introspective and visionary novelist? correct- Para 1 But Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: (D) Was D. H. Lawrence as concerned as Woolf was with creating realistic settings for his novels? Incorrect- This is not mentioned about Lawrence in Para 2 (E) Does Woolf attribute more power to social environment or to historical forces as shapers of a person's life? Incorrect- no comparison is made in Para 1
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
20 Sep 2020, 22:32
2
1. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
E. Virginia Woolf's Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society
"In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or de-formed) by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people's lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people's fates."
2. In the first paragraph of the passage, the author's attitude toward the literary critics mentioned can best be described as
A. Disparaging
"But Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny."
3. It can be inferred from the passage that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary model because she believed that
D. Chaucer's writing was great, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers
Virginia Woolf practiced the satirist's art, which involves using subtlety, instead of direct statements . This is described in these lines -
"As a moralist, Woolf works by indirection, subtly undermining officially accepted mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirist's art."
And the following lines indicate that Chaucer followed a similar method, thus becoming a role model for Virginia Woolf.
As she put it in The Common Reader, "It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote; and yet, as we read him, we are absorbing morality at every pore.
"Like Chaucer, Woolf chose to understand as well as to judge, to know her society root and branch—a decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic."
Polemic is straightforward support for a thesis, therefore, here art refers to the method of indirection and subtlety.
4. It can be inferred from the passage that the most probable reason Woolf realistically described the social setting in the majority of her novels was that she
B. was interested in the effect of a person's social milieu on his or her character and actions
"In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or de-formed) by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people's lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people's fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time."
5. Which of the following phrases best expresses the sense of the word "contemplative" as it is used in lines 43-44 of the passage?
C. Avoiding the aggressive assertion of the author's perspective to the exclusion of the reader's judgment
"Woolf's own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary since for her, fiction is a contemplative, not an active art. She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues: it is the reader's work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them."
In other words, direct commentary is active art. Therefore contemplative must mean avoiding direct commentary, and allowing the reader to make his observations and and come to his own conclusions.
6. The author implies that a major element of the satirist's art is the satirist's
E. refusal to indulge in polemic when presenting social mores to readers for their scrutiny
The following lines describe the indirect method of Virginia Woolf-
"She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues: it is the reader's work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them."
The satirist's method involves the satirist presenting phenomenon for readers contemplation rather than directly commenting on it.
The satirit's art is also described as working by indirection, subtly undermining (which suggests an indirect approach), mocking, suggesting and calling into question rather than rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness. Later, the author compares Woolf indirect method to Chaucer's, and Chaucer was Woolf's role model, and explains how that helped to produce art instead of polemic.
Note: A polemic is contentious rhetoric that is intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and undermining of the opposing position.
7.The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions?
B. Does the author believe that Woolf is solely an introspective and visionary novelist?
"Virginia Woolf's provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the "poetic" novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness."
"But Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny."
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
06 Oct 2020, 11:13
1
So I came after watching gregmat's video decided to try his approach.And I actually got all of them correct except the 4th ! NEVER HAPPENED TO ME
So thing I did was to know the main idea of the passage which we can deduce from the first para itself.I just focussed on these sentences : Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary. Thats it ! I just skimmed the rest.
In the second para through I noticed that she didn't like Lawarence's approach which was opposite of her's .The second para basically describes her being a realist. These sentences provide the evidence : "Woolf's focus on society has not been generally recognized because of her intense antipathy to propaganda in art".Basically she hated propaganda(TMZ) instead more realistic showing the way it is .
In the third para it shows her approach her technique used in her novels. Her being a visionary a satarist is mentioned again "subtly undermining officially accepted mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirist's art".
THAT'S IT !! AND we are good to go .
1. It is about Virgina so eliminate options that don't mention her.Remeber her as a realist so Criticall refelctions suite well Choose E.
2. Virgina didn't like those critics The first sentence describes that So A .
3 She was a moralist as well so she would definitely be inclined to someone who had followed that suite. Note C option it says he didn't call into question the mores of the society against her idealist approach so eliminate it. The option D since it mentions moralist.
4. This is a tree question as Greg would call it.This one can be answered when reading the sentence in the passage where its mentioned , "how historical forces impinge on people's lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people's fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time." Didn't bother to read the passage again so got it wrong.With these sentences it is clear to choose Option B
5 "Woolf's own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary since for her, fiction is a contemplative, not an active art. She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues: it is the reader's work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them. This sentence states that Wolf wanted her readers to to make a judgement themselves. So C makes a good choice.
6 This one here again is her being a realist and not indulging in polemic when expressing her views So option E fits well.
7.Again the same approach in this aswell it the author definitely mentions her being a visionary and self examining. And that can be answered while reading this passage So choose B
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo
[#permalink]
22 Aug 2023, 17:23
2
Summary:
Para 1: a brief of wolf’s writing style Para 2: how wolf antipathy to social reforms were depicted in her writing Para 3: Wolf was indirect with her writing, nor attacking directly
A2: (A) “iterary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny” - a strong stand against the critics was seen by the author
A3: (D) she compared Chaucer writing with her in para 3
A4: (B) “Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or de-formed) by their social environments” para 1
A5: (C) As the author said in the 3rd para that her writing was contemplative not direct commentary, which states in the para that she wasn’t aggressive towards her idea but rather subtle and it was reader’s duty to conglomerate the idea as it will not be written in a simpler forms
A6: (E) para 3, last line
A7: (B) the author describes wolf as visionary in para 1
gmatclubot
Re: "I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at wo [#permalink]