Reading comp PrepTest 116 · Section 1 · Question 16

Passage

Questions 14-21  .        Reader–response theory, a type of literary theory  . that arose in reaction to formalist literary criticism, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Debate between reader-response theory and formalists; author’s criticism of formalists
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Reader-response theory proponents’ view:
      • The text alone has no meaning and only acquires meaning when readers interpret it; varying interpretations possible (first and second sentences)
    • Formalists’ view:
      • Study only the text; reader-response theory encourages fragmented views (third sentence)
    • Author’s view:
      • More than one theory can show how works acquire meaning, so the formalists’ approach is unnecessarily narrow (last sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “no theory has a monopoly” (last sentence); “unnecessarily narrow” (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Formalists’ view and author’s rebuttal
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the formalists
      • Formalism rests on rational, objective principles, while reader-response theory lacks standards and is subjective (first sentence)
    • Formalists’ view:
      • Author’s intended meaning may be hidden, but it can and should be found (third sentence)
    • Author’s view:
      • Literary works consist of signs/symbols, but a work is not a map, and criticism needs to make use of reader/text encounters (fourth through last sentences)
    • Author’s attitude: “indeed encoded in various signs and symbols that must be translated” (fourth sentence); “it is not a map” (fourth sentence); “invariably” (fifth sentence); “needed” (last sentence); “rich stock of meanings” (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on benefits of reader-response theory
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author’s view:
      • Reader interpretations have occurred long before reader-response theory articulated the position, and such interpretations can bring new depth and valuable interpretations to work (first and second sentences)
      • Although reader-response theory can “unfairly burden literature” with contemporary views, it adds additional insights and leads to “fluid and lively” discourse over old works (third and last sentences)
    • Author’s attitude: “uncover hitherto unnoticed dimensions of the text” (first sentence); “unfairly burdened literature of the past with contemporary ideologies” (third sentence); “legitimate additional insights and understandings continue to emerge” (third sentence); “legitimizes a wide range of perspectives” (last sentence); “fluid and lively forms of discourse” (last sentence)

Main Point: Despite the objection of formalists and the occasional unfair burdening of literature with contemporary morals, reader-response theory encourages important interaction between readers and text, allowing for new depth and lively discussion about the meanings of older works.

Key Lines?

Lines 6-12 - A new approach

Lines 12-17 - The old approach

Lines 17-20 - The author’s opinion on the old approach

Lines 21-24 - Proponents’ view of the old approach

Lines 41-44 - Benefits of the new theory, according to the author

Lines 58-62 - More benefits of the new theory, according to the author

Meta-Structure?

Old Approach/New Approach: The passage opens up by describing an approach to literary criticism that “arose in reaction to” another, suggesting that the passage is going to fall into the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure. Throughout the rest of the passage, the downsides of the old approach are discussed (Lines 18-20; Line 35), and the benefits of the new approach are raised (Paragraph 3). In such a passage, the author’s opinion of the new approach generally constitutes the main point. Here, it’s important to note that the author makes some concessions to the argument against the new approach (see discussion below), so that needs to be reflected in the main point. However, the discussion of the benefits of the new approach shows that the author is largely in favor of it, leading to the main point we summarized above.

Last Thoughts?

It’s important to note that the author doesn’t argue in favor of reader-response theory at the end of Paragraph 1, but rather against the constraints of the formalists’ approach. The author could easily have followed that up by noting that reader-response theory is problematic and a third approach —or a combination of the first two — is needed. It’s not until the end of Paragraph 2, where the author calls for a method that incorporates the views of readers, that we can associate the author with the reader-response movement.

Question prompt

With which one of Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the author's view, but doesn't provide any insight into the topic of the correct answer or where the supporting information might show up in the passage. This means the correct answer is likely to relate back to the author's main point. As such, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). We can also review any notes about the author's attitude or any text we highlighted because it expressed the author's opinion. After doing that, we can head to the answer choices, tabling those that don't line up with the main point. For those answer choices that conform to the author’s main point, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if it's correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Any literary theory should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this line up with the author’s main point or what you remember about the author’s opinion?

    Not really. The author’s main point is, in part, that reader-response theory encourages important interaction between readers and text, allowing for new depth and lively discussion about the meanings of older works. That doesn’t suggest the author thinks reader-response theory is limiting, so we can eliminate this one.

    Still, this answer choice tempts many test-takers who recall that the author says that “no theory has a monopoly on divining” a text’s meaning (Lines 17-20). However, it’s only the formalists who argue that other interpretations of a text are illegitimate. Reader-response theory, in fact, argues that there will be many interpretations of a text. Ultimately, the author criticizes formalism for being “unnecessarily narrow” but doesn’t apply the same criticism to reader-response theory, so this answer choice is incorrect.

  2. B
    A purpose of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) Does this line up with the author’s main point or what you remember about the author’s opinion?

    This checks out! The author’s main point is, in part, that reader-response theory encourages important interaction between readers and text, allowing for new depth and lively discussion about the meanings of older works. That suggests the author thinks broadening and enhancing understanding is a legitimate purpose of a literary theory. So, this answer choice warrants further inspection.

    Upon review, we’ll see that the author presents one general statement on the requirements for a proper approach to literary criticism. At the end of Paragraph 2, the author states that such a method needs to “make use of the rich stock of meanings created” by readers when approaching a test (Lines 37-40). In other words, literary theories help critics understand tthe various interpretations that make a text “rich” (Lines 35-37). This confirms that the author thinks literary theories should broaden and enhance the understanding of a work, making this the correct answer. We would be justified in selecting it and moving on.

  3. C
    A literary theory should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this line up with the author’s main point or what you remember about the author’s opinion?

    Not at all. A theory that provides valid and objective methods for interpreting texts? That’s formalism. The author believes that their view is unnecessarily narrow and fails to allow for the use of the rich stock of meanings when readers interpret the text using their unique viewpoints (Lines 21-23; Lines 32-40). As such, the author would disagree with this answer. We can eliminate this without checking the passage.

  4. D
    The purpose of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this line up with the author’s main point or what you remember about the author’s opinion?

    Nope. Like (C), this answer presents the view of the formalists, and the author takes issue with their approach to literary criticism (Lines 29-32). We can eliminate this without checking the passage.

  5. E
    Since no literary theory Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this line up with the author’s main point or what you remember about the author’s opinion?

    Not quite. The author mostly endorses the use of reader-response theory in the passage’s main point. We can eliminate this without checking the passage.

    If we had to review the passage to confirm (E) is wrong, we’d see that, although the author doesn’t think that any single literary theory is “correct,” the author also thinks that reader-response theory allows for “fluid and lively” interpretations that can be “rich” (Lines 41-44; Lines 58-62). Since the author believes that critics can fruitfully use reader-response theory to interpret literature, we can eliminate this answer choice.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B Credited 87%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 3%
  5. E 2%

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