Literary Criticism and Theory – Previous Year Questions
452 questions from past UGC NET English papers, each with the correct answer. Open any question for its explanation.
Topic-wise mock tests
- On which points do Derrida and Barthes converge? A. Both affirm the endless play of language and texts. B. Both conclude that meaning is never final. C. Both hold that language has retrospective power. D. No meaning is…
- Statement I: Barthes calls the author 'the epitome and culmination of capitalist ideology'. Statement II: In 'The Storyteller', Benjamin observes that every real story contains something useful.
- Match List I with List II: List I: Term List II: Thinker A. Bricolage I. Martin Heidegger B. Dasein II. Sigmund Freud C. Parapraxes III. Claude Lévi-Strauss D. Polyphony IV. Mikhail Bakhtin
- Which of the following are true of reader-response criticism? A. It challenges the idea that meaning resides in the text. B. It rejects the author as the sole originator of meaning. C. It sees the reader as a source of…
- 'I was indignant; I demanded an explanation. Nothing happened. I burst apart.' Who wrote this?
- Which of the following statements about phenomenology are true? A. It is a 'methodological idealism' exploring human consciousness. B. Edmund Husserl developed it as a philosophical method. C. Martin Heidegger is one of…
- Which of the following are Gérard Genette's types of narrator, defined by the narrator's relation to the story? A. Extradiegetic B. Heterodiegetic C. Intradiegetic D. Homodiegetic E. Interdiegetic
- Which of the following are premises of postcolonial criticism? A. It rejects the universalism claimed for canonical Western literature. B. It foregrounds cultural difference and diversity. C. It acts on principles of pe…
- Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) draws on:
- Which of the following are representative texts of gynocriticism? A. Patricia Meyer Spacks, The Female Imagination B. Mary Ellmann, Thinking About Women C. Gilbert and Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic D. Ellen Moers, Li…
- Which of the following are Plato's main objections to poetry? A. The poet is an imitator. B. The poet lacks bravery. C. Poetry stirs the emotions and weakens reason. D. The poet is less responsible. E. The poet lacks kn…
- What does Aristotle mean by 'language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament' (pleasurable accessories) in his definition of tragedy? A. Pompous vocabulary B. Embellished language C. Rhythm and harmony D. Langu…
- In which period did the 'Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns' arise?
- Which of the following is NOT true about Lyrical Ballads?
- Who said that there is, and ought to be, an essential difference between the language of prose and of metrical composition?
- Statement I: The lines lamenting an age with 'no God', no heroes and no visible temples are by Thomas Carlyle. Statement II: The lines on men who work without pleasure and seek wealth as their only pleasure are by John…
- Assertion (A): Marxists present Marxism as a scientific account of social change. Reason (R): Culture mirrors social life, and the artist is 'an engineer of the human soul'.
- Assertion (A): Lacan was radically critical of existing psychoanalytic theory. Reason (R): Lacan was expelled from the International Psychoanalytical Association.
- Which of the following are Roland Barthes's contributions? A. He rejected the structural analysis of narratives. B. He held that meaning arises from interconnected codes. C. He identified the codes at work in structurat…
- Which of the following pairs is INCORRECT?
- Assertion (A): Barthes distinguishes two kinds of text, the 'readerly' and the 'writerly'. Reason (R): Language is the window through which one sees the world.
- Which of the following are among Barthes's codes common to all narratives? A. Synthetic code B. Proairetic code C. Semic code D. Hermeneutic code E. Symbolic code
- Which theorist identifies metaphor and metonymy as the two fundamental poles of language?
- Match List I with List II: List I: Work List II: Author A. The Poetics of Prose I. Stanley Fish B. Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics II. Tzvetan Todorov C. Surprised by Sin III. Mikhail Bakhtin D. The Way Women Write IV.…
- Which poem by Shelley did J. Hillis Miller read deconstructively?
- Which critic is associated with 'contrapuntal reading'?
- Stuart Hall belongs to which school of cultural studies?
- Statement I: Hannah Arendt's 'defactualisation' is very close to the concept of 'post-truth'. Statement II: Post-truth relies on absolute lies.
- Kimberlé Crenshaw's 'intersectionality' is widely used in relation to: A. academic deterioration B. racial justice C. peace formation D. the complex construction of power E. identity politics
- Match List I with List II: List I: Book List II: Author A. Gender and Nation I. Catherine Belsey B. Greek Homosexuality II. K. J. Dover C. The Subject of Tragedy III. W. E. B. Du Bois D. The Souls of Black Folk IV. Nira…