Introduction to Literary Theory

A. Literary theory engages with theoretical rather than real-world issues.
B. Literary theory asks fundamental questions about literary interpretation, and at the same time builds specific systems of literary interpretation.
C. Literary theory relies totally on speculation rather than history.
D. Literary theory is detached from the reality of politics and the economy.

A. TheWest spends too much time trying to consider an Asian perspective.
B. The West tends to look at Asian countries as individual units rather than lump them together.
C. The West views matters through its own limited historical position.
D. The West refuses to apply economic and political coercion to Asian writers.

A. It is nearly impossible to represent women as anything other than mad in patriarchal discourses.
B. Feminist critics need to re-appropriate Ophelia for their own purposes.
C. Women’s tragedies tend to be subordinated to those of men.
D. All of the above

A. Changes in emotional states
B. Obsessions
C. Slips of the tongue
D. All of the above.

A. Wolfgang Iser
B. William Wimsatt
C. Cleanth Brooks
D. Harold Bloom

A. The reader fills in the gaps imposed by an author’s intention.
B. The reader is sublimated beneath the author.
C. The reader is less important than the author’s context.
D. The reader is totally subject to the author’s intention.

A. A theory of practical actions developed by William James
B. An idea used to guide conduct towards clear objectives
C. A concept derived from the ancient Greek word pragma, meaning action
D. All of the above.

A. An infant’s inability to speak prior to the mirror stage
B. The referential relationships among symbols, signifiers, and signs
C. The multi-layered nature of language in a literary work
D. The formulaic shift between economic and political themes

A. A humanity-centered view of the universe
B. A school of theory devoted to the revival of Classical (ancient Greek and Roman) literature
C. A theory that values restraint, form, and imitation
D. All of the above.

A. A term used to describe how texts include a variety of styles
B. A term used to explain the use of multiple points of view in literature
C. A term that explains resistance to a monolithic text
D. All of the above.