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
- Who described neo-colonialism as 'the worst form of imperialism', meaning 'exploitation without redress'?
- What is the goal of schizoanalysis?
- Which of the following statements are NOT true about the feminist movement? A. Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman challenges the idea that women exist only to please men. B. Women's suffrage dominated…
- Which of the following assumptions about post-feminism are NOT true? A. Post-feminism rests on the postulates laid down by Elaine Showalter. B. It is a discourse popularised by the media in the 1990s, reacting against f…
- Which of the following are basic issues in feminist literary criticism? A. Women are trapped in the 'prison-house' of a male-centred language. B. Gender equality is just an idea and largely unachievable. C. Society is l…
- Which of the following attributes of society, concerning the objectification of women's bodies, are NOT accepted by feminist critics? A. Beauty contests commodify women's bodies for the male gaze. B. All women suffer fr…
- Arrange the following texts in chronological order of publication: A. Elaine Showalter, A Literature of Their Own B. Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens C. Gilbert and Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic D. Kat…
- Who is the earliest available Indian dramatist?
- Arrange the following texts chronologically: A. Bharata, Natyashastra B. Kshemendra, Auchityavicharacharcha C. Bhamaha, Kavyalankara D. Kuntaka, Vakroktijivitam E. Anandavardhana, Dhvanyaloka
- How many major forms of drama (rupakas) are described by Bharata in the Natyashastra?
- Sharankumar Limbale argues that Dalit literature is unique because: A. it brings out Dalit reality that is liminal in time and space B. it has unique historical and ideological concerns C. it offers literary and cultura…
- Choose the correct option(s) in the New Historicist reading of Dalit writing: A. Dalit writing does not essentialise Indian society, culture and identity. B. Dalit writing has inflected the immanent metanarratives. C. T…
- Identify the correct option(s) in Homi K. Bhabha's theorisation of the nation. A. The nation arises from similarities among people. B. Nationalist representation is marked by ambivalence. C. Nationalist representation e…
- Arrange the following in chronological order of publication: A. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spices B. Anand Giridharadas, India Calling C. V. S. Naipaul, India: A Wounded Civilization D. Bharati Mukherje…
- Arrange the following in chronological order of publication: A. Michel Foucault, The Order of Things B. M. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj C. Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve D. Donna Haraway, When Species Meet E. Tony Bennett, Fo…
- Which work of Francis Bacon explains the new logic, the inductive method of reasoning?
- Statement I: A Room of One's Own is a feminist essay by Virginia Woolf about women's education, exclusion and writing. Statement II: In Other Worlds is a collection of essays by Edward W. Said on psychoanalysis and soci…
- 'Did not Shakespeare hate and despise Iago and Edmund?' Identify the book in which this question appears.
- 'All writers since Chaucer have come from the middle class… have had a good, at least an expensive, education…' Where does Virginia Woolf argue this?
- Edgar Allan Poe defined 'the prose tale' as:
- Which among the following are NOT mentioned as aspects of the novel by E. M. Forster? A. Story B. Imagination C. Plot D. Harmony E. Prophecy
- Roland Barthes in 'Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives' (1966) proposed which levels of narrative? A. Functions B. Actions C. Grammar D. Narration E. Coherence
- Match List I with List II: List I: Work List II: Author A. The Wretched of the Earth I. Benedict Anderson B. Nation and Narration II. Homi K. Bhabha C. Culture and Imperialism III. Edward W. Said D. Imagined Communities…
- Which of the following assumptions are true in the context of New Criticism? A. It popularised close reading of the text. B. Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, R. P. Blackmur and Kenneth Burke were among its leading critic…
- Arrange the following works in chronological order of publication: A. Raymond Williams, Culture and Society B. Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy C. Herbert Read, To Hell with Culture D. Christopher Caudwell, Studies i…
- The term 'simulacra' in postmodern discourse is about: A. the lack of a vivid representation of reality B. an artificially made reality presented as authentic C. the rejection of the modernist view of reality D. the gap…
- What aptly defines 'minor literature' according to Gilles Deleuze (and Guattari)?
- According to Freud, civilization is to some extent the cumulative product of our psychology. Choose the correct option(s): A. The purpose of human life is the pursuit of happiness. B. Man is wholly good. C. Abolition of…
- 'Being a white man, in short, was a very concrete manner of being-in-the-world, a way of taking hold of reality, language and thought.' What does 'white man' signify here?
- Assertion (A): Discourses are cultural and social practices rooted in psychic and physical reality. Reason (R): Foucault defines discourse as the material manifestation of thought which shapes our subjectivity.