Reading comp PrepTest 116 · Section 1 · Question 21

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

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

Credited answer: A

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 to infer, based on the entire passage, a statement that must be true. Such questions can be very challenging. These questions provide little indication as to the topic of the correct answer or where it’ll show up in the passage. Moreover, the correct answer probably won't restate something from the passage. Instead, the question will likely require us to draw a connection between a few different pieces of information.We’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer these questions. 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). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar, we shouldn’t check the passage to see if it was mentioned. Instead, we’ll table it and move on to the next answer choice. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, we can eliminate it. If something seems familiar and consistent with the main point, we’ll use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be true. If we can find that confirmation, we’ll select that answer choice and move on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Formalists believe that responsible Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) Do you recall reading that the formalists believe that responsible critics who focus on the text alone will tend to find similar meanings in a literary work?

    Perhaps. You can probably recall that the formalists wanted their theory to promote unified view of a text, so this is consistent with their views. If this seems familiar to you, it’s worth reviewing the passage to confirm that this is supported.

    To review the passage, we can note that the passage presents the formalists’ view at the beginning of Paragraph 2. There, they argue that the author’s intended meaning may be hard to spot, but it’s in the text, and it’s the job of a critic to search for it (Lines 26-32). As such, since these critics believe that all critics should be searching for the same meaning (the author’s intent), they’d believe that responsible critics would find the same or similar meanings in text, making this the correct answer. Since we can find the text that supports this answer choice, we’d be justified in selecting it and finishing the passage.

  2. B
    Critical approaches similar to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Do you recall reading that the formalist approach has been used to interpret texts long before the theory articulated that approach?

    Perhaps, as the author uses an extremely similar-sounding phrase in the third paragraph. If this seems familiar, you can review the passage to see whether this answer choice is supported.

    Upon review, we’ll learn that this answer choice restates something the author said about reader-response theory (Lines 44-49) , not something the author said about formalism.

  3. C
    Formalists would not find Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Do you recall reading that formalist would not find any meaning in a text if the author did not intend it to have one particular meaning?

    You probably recall that the formalists were big on the author’s intent. So, this seems fairly consistent with their position. Indeed, this is a tricky trap answer! After all, if the formalists are so keep on the author’s intent, wouldn’t that mean if the author didn’t intend a meaning, then the critics wouldn’t find one?

    Well, be careful in reading this answer — it doesn’t claim the author intended no meaning in the text, but rather that the atuhor didn’t intend any one particular meaning. That leaves open the possibility that the intended multiple meanings, in which case the formalists would argue that it’s the job of a responsible critic to search out all of those meanings (Lines 26-32).

  4. D
    A literary work from Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Do you recall reading that literary work from the past can rarely be read using the reader-response theory when the subtleties of the work’s context are not available?

    Probably not. In fact, this seems to contradict the point of the reader-response theory, which is about readers’ bringing their unique perspectives to interpreting a literary work. It seems as though readers could do that even if the subtleties of of the work’s context are not available. For that reason, we can safely eliminate this answer choice.

    Still, some test-takers get tempted by this answer choice, perhaps because the author says a past work can be “unfairly burdened” when a critic applies contemporary ideologies to it (Lines 49-52). But that’s not the same as saying that such works are “rarely” read properly using reader-response theory. As long as readers don’t foist too much contemporary ideology on the works meaning, they could properly read such works using reader-response theory.

  5. E
    Formalism is much older Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Do you recall reading that formalism is older and has more adherents than reader-response theory?

    You almost certainly recall that formalism is older than reader-response theory, given the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure we assigned to this passage. Indeed, the opening line says that reader-response theory “arose in reaction to” formalism (Lines 1-2).

    Does formalism have more adherents than reader-response theory? If you don’t recall reading that, it’s best to table or eliminate this answer choice. If you have to review, we wouldn’t find any discussion of the relative number of adherents of both, so we can say that formalism has more adherents than reader-response theory.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 70%
  2. B 6%
  3. C 18%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 3%

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Discussion

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