Reading comp PrepTest 129 · Section 4 · Question 18

Topic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Cather’s influences; Style of one of them
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
  • Cather’s influences - Tolstoy + Turgenev
  • Wilson - Cather followed Turgenev
  • Turgenev - Understand motivations and habits of characters but only show typical actions

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Cather + Turgenev style
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
  • Impressionistic (secret knowledge/”thing not named”)
  • Cather - Inferences are created
  • Both - Selection, simplification - Establish mood

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Cather vs Critics; Distinction (Novel vs. Narrative)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
  • Cather - Writes narratives, not fiction/novels
  • French theorists - Narratology - Broadened and simplified view of fiction
  • Dominant Western approach - Realistic Novel - Direct psychology, linear time, causality, logical closure
  • Narratology better for Cather’s work

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Views of Critics; Author’s characterization
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
  • Critics (Zabel/Edel) - No structure/substance; inconclusive
  • Author - “Failures” are central features; impressionistic; non-novelistic

Main Points:

Passage A - Turgenev’s focus on indirect and impressionistic writing anticipated Cather’s, and they both wrote in a way that focused on establishing a prevailing mood.

Passage B - Critics misunderstood Cather’s work when attempting to view it as a Western “realistic novel,” when her works are better viewed as impressionistic narratives.

Passage A:

• Lines 2-3 - Cather cites her influences
• Lines 4-8 - Critic brings up similarity between Cather and key influence
• Lines 18-19 - Author relates influence to Cather
• Lines 23-27 - Author brings up similarities
• Lines 27-29 - Author brings up central similarity

Passage B:

• Lines 31-33 - Cather’s view on her work, which reflects Author’s
• Lines 39-44 - Comparison of old and new view of fiction
• Lines 45-47 - Author says which is better for Cather
• Lines 54-59 - Author states positive view of elements Critics dislike

The two passages both discuss aspects of Cather’s work, and they both have a fairly positive view of aspects of it. There are differences in what they specifically discuss and the elements of their arguments, but they both generally agree that Cather used impressionistic techniques (Line 18; Line 56) to create a prevailing mood in a way that didn’t necessarily match with other writing at the time.

Author’s Influences (Passage A) - Many Humanities passages focus on the influences for a certain artist or movement. Passage A brings up Tolstoy and Turgenev, and it explores the similarities between the latter’s writing and Cather’s that shows his “impressionistic aesthetic” was a precursor to Cather’s (Lines 18-19).

Similarities (Passage A) - The Author of Passage A brings up many similarities between Cather and Turgenev in his exploration of how the latter influenced the former.

Old Approach/New Approach (Passage B) - Passage B discusses two critical “lenses” that can be used to analyze works of fiction. The “dominant” approach - the “modern Western form” - focused on linear, logical, causal novels that had direct psychological characterization (Lines 42-44). The new approach - “narratology” - broadened and simplified how we viewed fiction, saying that it only needed to tell a story (Lines 36-40). The Author then says that the new approach - narratology - is better for viewing Cather’s work (Lines 45-47). When a passage focuses on an old and a new approach, and the Author sides with one of them, that’s almost always reflected in the main point.

Defending an Artist from Critics (Passage B) - The Author of Passage B brings up critics who weren’t fans of Cather’s work (Lines 48-54) in order to defend her from those critics (Lines 54-62). This Meta-Structure is directly related to the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure, as the Author defends Cather by arguing the Critics use the old approach, while the new approach is better suited to her writing. This Meta-Structure should similarly be reflected in the main point.

Example/Generalization (Passage B) - While not explored in depth at all, Passage B does bring up the example of Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop, so we should be aware that a question will likely ask about it.

Together, these passages characterize and describe Cather’s writings in a variety of ways. Passage A also went into a lot of detail on Turgenev’s writing. Keeping these details straight might be difficult, so let’s be extra careful in any detail questions that are asking about a specific passage!