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
- Identify the correct option in Julia Kristeva's definition of the 'chora': A. A liminal space B. A space of the marginalised C. A non-expressive totality formed by the drives D. Has no fixed identity E. Precedes the lin…
- 'Panopticism' refers to a mechanism of surveillance. Who coined the term?
- Match List I with List II: List I: Term List II: Coined by A. Heteroglossia I. William Empson B. Structures of feeling II. Raymond Williams C. Ambiguity III. Mikhail Bakhtin D. Discourse IV. Michel Foucault
- Identify the correct order of the publications given below: A. Simon Gikandi, Maps of Englishness B. Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth C. Homi K. Bhabha (ed.), Nation and Narration D. Ernest Gellner, Nations and N…
- The essay 'Discourse in the Novel' argues that the novel is constituted by a multiplicity of social voices. Who wrote it?
- Which of the following statements/concepts are relevant for understanding postmodernism? A. Postmodernism and postcolonialism are mutually dependent in responding to colonial experience. B. Lyotard argues that the postm…
- Which of the following statements are valid for postcolonial theory and literature? A. Abrogation, resistance and assertion form the basis of postcolonial thought. B. Postcolonial theory upholds binaries such as master/…
- Which is the correct option in Antonio Gramsci's definition of the intellectual? A. Every social group arising in production creates its own 'organic' intellectuals. B. Intellectuals give their group homogeneity and awa…
- Which of the following is NOT true about Raymond Williams's views on culture?
- Which of the following is true of Edward Said's Orientalism? A. It was published in 1979. B. It draws on Foucault's notion of discourse. C. It analyses 'imaginative geography' and representations of the Orient. D. It is…
- Name the writer who is NOT associated with British Cultural Studies.
- Arrange the following works of Richard Hoggart in chronological order: A. An Imagined Life B. The Uses of Literacy C. Higher Education: Demand and Response D. A Local Habitation E. A Sort of Clowning
- Which of the following assertions is/are NOT true in the context of the culture industry? A. The Frankfurt School used the term for the workings of mass media. B. The dominant class instils its values in the working cla…
- Assertion (A): Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language. Reason (R): This is mainly because several different though related meanings have emerged at particular moments in its lo…
- Who among the following is NOT associated with Cultural Materialism?
- Antonio Gramsci's Prison Notebooks primarily deal with:
- The term 'gynocriticism' refers to:
- Who made the first published Latin translation of Aristotle's Poetics?
- Statement I: Unlike Plato, Aristotle holds that the best poetry needs great skill, and he distinguishes good from bad poetry by systematic criteria. Statement II: Aristotle accepts Plato's view that emotions are central…
- Which of the following is NOT a dialogue of Plato?
- Who wrote the 1582 pamphlet Playes Confuted in Five Actions, complaining that bawdy Latin, French, Italian and Spanish comedies had been 'thoroughly ransacked' to furnish London playhouses?
- Who wrote Novum Organum?
- 'Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, / And some made coxcombs Nature meant but fools.' From which work are these lines?
- Match List I with List II: List I: Author List II: Work A. David Hume I. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire B. Edward Gibbon II. A Complete History of England C. William Godwin III. A Treatise of Human Nature D. T…
- Arrange the following writers by year of birth: A. James Boswell B. Edward Gibbon C. Samuel Johnson D. Edmund Burke E. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- Arrange the following in chronological order of publication: A. Reflections on the Revolution in France B. Preface to Shakespeare C. The Social Contract D. A Treatise of Human Nature E. An Enquiry Concerning Human Under…
- Which of the following works were published in 1791? A. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations B. James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson C. Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language D. Edmund Burke, Thoughts on…
- In which year was Burke's A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful published?
- Which critic held that poetry contains the same elements as prose, and differs from it in how they are combined and in its purpose?
- Arrange the following works of T. S. Eliot in chronological order: A. The Sacred Wood B. Notes towards the Definition of Culture C. 'The Metaphysical Poets' D. 'The Function of Criticism' E. The Use of Poetry and the Us…