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An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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Updated on: 18 Jan 2021, 16:55
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An important development in twentieth-century literary criticism was the growth of the New Criticism. The New Critics assumed that the methods devised for reading long poems could be applied to novels. In practice this meant a new emphasis in the reading of fiction on scrupulous textual analysis as a prerequisite for biographical and ideological comment. A novelist’s ideas were now significant mainly as components of his or her writing technique. Insisting on close attention to a text, the New Critics analyzed long passages of a novel and concentrated on discerning the development of symbolic patterns. By analyzing symbols in this way, the critic could show how the meaning of symbol accrued as it was repeated in different passages. This permitted a more complete understanding of the symbol to emerge than that which could be discovered through isolated symbol hunting. One novelist who benefited from this new emphasis on text was D. H.Lawrence, whose work was rescued from hostile critics who had attacked it as mere ideology.
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1. According to the passage, the New Critics considered the ideas found in a novelist’s work to be
(A) equally conducive to treatment in poetry or fiction (B) important primarily as aspects of the novelist’s style (C) ambiguous and therefore stumbling blocks to informed critical judgment (D) most easily analyzed when embodied in a symbol (E) open to biographical speculation on the part of a critic
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2. The author alludes to D. H. Lawrence in order to give an example of a novelist who
(A) sacrificed literary technique to ideology (B) wrote both novels and long poems (C) subscribed to the principles of the New Criticism (D) was influenced by New Critical judgments on his work (E) was reassessed because of New Critical principles
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3. It can be inferred from the passage that the New Critics disliked isolated symbol-hunting because it tended to
(A) encourage simplistic critical platitudes (B) reduce the role of the critic to that of a literary detective (C) enforce an unnecessary distinction between criticism and symbolism (D) oversimplify the meaning of a symbol (E) ignore conventions associated with long poems
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4. The passage implies that the New Critics would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements regarding the importance of biographical information in literary criticism?
(A) Critical speculation on the connection between a novelist’s childhood and his or her writing is irrelevant (B) The most scrupulously complete literary criticism is that which emphasizes connections between a novelist’s life and his or her writing (C) A novelist’s life experiences can contribute to an understanding of his or her novels, but treatment of these experiences must be preceded by textual analysis (D) Information about a novelist’s life can provide important critical insight into his or her novels, but such information should be subordinated to ideological investigation (E) Biographical criticism that can reveal a developing pattern in a novelist’s life is usually preferable to criticism that isolates only key events in that life
Re: An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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21 Jul 2019, 02:52
Expert Reply
In practice this meanta new emphasis in the reading of fiction on scrupulous textual analysisas a prerequisite for biographical and ideological comment.
No connection as mentioned in B, but a prerequisite, which is different.
Re: An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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22 Jan 2021, 03:12
Expert Reply
The word Biographical appears only in the third sentence, and this reads, “In practice, this meant a new emphasis in the reading of a fiction on scrupulous textual analysis as a prerequisite for biographical and ideological commend".
Among the choices, it is (C) which paraphrases this neatly, and is the answer.
(D) Information about a novelist’s life can provide important critical insight into his or her novels, but such information should be subordinated to ideological investigation
We do need to discover new patterns across different novels. Not ideological investigation
Re: An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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22 Jan 2021, 17:23
Thanks.... in the passage, it says 'In practice this meant a new emphasis in the reading of fiction on scrupulous textual analysis as a prerequisite for biographical and ideological comment. ' I dont get it. Who is going to comment? The novelist or the critic?
Re: An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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24 Jan 2021, 10:58
Expert Reply
Nobody
It is a rhetoric construction.
The theory says IF you want to make a comment you need those two elements, otherwise, according to the New Critics theory if you aim to make a serious analysis , and indeed certain novel's comment, you have to use both.
An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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25 Jan 2021, 18:46
Thanks and sorry for the infinite questions. Sometimes, its not easy to convey the main point efficiently merely through text.
So you mean IF a CRITIC- and this is the main part of the ambiguity I have( a critic not the novelist)- wants to comment, he/she should do biographical and ideological comment.
An important development in twentieth-century literary criti
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26 Jan 2021, 01:20
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Expert Reply
Translation
Quote:
An important development in twentieth-century literary criticism was the growth of the New Criticism. The New Critics assumed that the methods devised for reading long poems could be applied to novels. In practice this meant a new emphasis in the reading of fiction on scrupulous textual analysis as a prerequisite for biographical and ideological comment.
We do have the literary criticism, i.e the analysis of a book, what is in there, what the book says, what the author want to convey with that book
A new theory is developed
This new theory is able to apply the analysis applied from a poem to novels (fiction) as well
However, in this new theory (new critics) before making a comment on the novel (good written, bad, it is crap, it is awesome....) you MUST analyze the book or novel itself, reading the text very super careful.
At that point, you (the critic or who is analyzing the text of the book) are able to make a comment both in terms of biography and ideological standing point
Now
biographical means that our comment about the author is in the fashion: why the author this time wrote a book very good. At the beginning, him/her was not so good now yes (just an example) ideological means : oh I do not like the author he/she is a fascist, too extreme ideas in the novel. No he/she is a Communist (just an example) and blah blah blah