MH Literature and Literary Theory 2

Question 1

Which term describes a narrative told by a character who is unreliable or whose account is contradicted by other evidence in the text?

Accepted Answer

Unreliable narrator

Answer

An unreliable narrator's credibility is compromised, requiring readers to read against the narration to discern the true state of events.

Question 2

The 'hermeneutic circle' in literary interpretation refers to:

Accepted Answer

Understanding parts of a text through the whole and vice versa

Answer

The hermeneutic circle describes the interpretive process where understanding individual parts depends on grasping the whole, which itself depends on understanding its parts.

Question 3

Which 20th-century literary movement rejected traditional narrative forms in favor of fragmentation and stream of consciousness?

Accepted Answer

Modernism

Answer

Modernism, exemplified by Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner, broke from linear narrative to reflect the complexity of subjective experience.

Question 4

Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of 'dialogism' argues that literary language is:

Accepted Answer

Always in dialogue with other voices and discourses

Answer

Bakhtin argued that all language, especially in novels, is inherently dialogic — shaped by and responding to other social voices.

Question 5

The term 'intertextuality,' coined by Julia Kristeva, refers to:

Accepted Answer

The way texts absorb and transform other texts

Answer

Kristeva argued that every text is a mosaic of quotations, absorbing and transforming other texts rather than being a wholly original creation.

MH - Master of Humanities Practice Test

MH - Master of Humanities Practice Test

MH Literature and Literary Theory 2