Self-study
P1
With their recognition of Maxine Hong Kingston as a major literary figure, some critics have suggested that her works have been produced almost . ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ █ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███
Critics' perspective ·
Kingston's work doesn't seem to be based on prior Chinese American influences
Author's perspective ·
Critics overlook influence of "talk-story" on Kingston's work
Talk-story is a traditional Chinese form of oral narrative
P2
█████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ███████████ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ █ █████ ████████████ █████████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███
History of talk-story ·
Ancient form of storytelling in China, rarely written, brought to U.S. by Chinese immigrants
Relevance to Kingston ·
Her literary work includes written adaptations of talk-story
P3
████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ █ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██ █ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █ ████████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████████████ ███ ██████████ ████████████ ██████ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██
Kingston's method ·
Builds narratives using key elements and themes drawn from memory
Contrast this with written storytelling traditions, in which telling a story right means getting the order of words right; Kingston seems more focused on getting the broader "shape" of the story right, rather than on the specific wording
Kingston's perspective ·
on writing down traditionally oral stories
Writing them down doesn't halt the oral tradition; stories can continue to change over time
P4
██████████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █ █████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █ ████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ ████████ █████████ ████████████ ███████████ ███████████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████████ █████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ █ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ███████████
Example of Kingston's work ·
"China Men" book
Book includes many characteristics of talk-story and can be considered a written form of talk-story
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
14.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Despite some critics' █████████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ████████████ █████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████
This is what the author finds noteworthy about Kingston’s writing: it’s based on the talk-story tradition. (A) also captures the way in which the passage is framed as a response to critics.
b
Analysis of Kingston's █████████ ██████████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████
Descriptively inaccurate. Kingston believes that stories can continue change after they’ve been frozen in print, but nothing suggests she thinks literary artists are the ones responsible for that ongoing change. She simply believes writers are the ones who put stories into print in the first place. Those printed stories can then change down the road. But are writers/literary artists the ones who alter their own previously printed stories? We don’t know.
c
An understanding of ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ██████
Too broad. The author focuses solely on Kingston’s work. He doesn’t suggest that what’s true of Kingston’s work is true of Chinese American writers in general. He also doesn’t say that “critics of ethnic literatures” are mistaken in general—just those specific critics who say Kingston’s work has no antecedents.
d
Throughout her writings ████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ █████
Descriptively inaccurate. The author doesn’t single out this one characteristic as “especially” significant in Kingston’s writing. It just happens to be the last one mentioned in a long list of characteristics in P4.
e
The writings of ████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████
Descriptively inaccurate. The author doesn’t suggest that interest has been “rekindled.”