Self-study
Passage A.
P1
███ ████ █ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████████████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███████████████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████
Intro topic ·
Historical fiction require telling lies
Historical characters in these novels speak in language that doesn't match their actual period-specific language. And, authors must invent details about lives of real historical figures.
P2
███████████ █████ ██ █ █████ ███ █████████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ █ ███ ██ ███████████ ███ ███████████ █ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ █████████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ ███ ████████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███
Distinction between lie and mistake ·
Lies are intentional and with purpose; mistakes are accidental and often really bad to do
Good lies can help a story. Mistakes hurt a story.
P3
██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ███████████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████████
Importance of lying ·
Lying is required to make good historical fiction
Some lies can go too far, so not all lies are good for the story.
███████ █
P4
██ █ ██████ ██ ████████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ █ ████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █ ████ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ███████ █ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ████
False memories and truth ·
What is the "truer" memory?
Some false memories feel more real and emotionally impactful than the "true" memory.
P5
████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ █████ █ ████████ ██ ██ ████████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ █ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ █ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ ██████
Subjective truth ·
False memories can have subjective, emotional truth
P6
███████████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ███ █ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████████ ████████ ██████████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████████ ██ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████ ███ █ █████████ ██ ████ █ ████ █████████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██ ███████ █████
Lying in autobiographies ·
Lying is almost required to create a coherent narrative
P7
██ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███
Concession ·
The author thinks it's illogical and unethical to endorse lying in autobiographies
Reiterate importance of lying ·
Readers don't expect autobiography to be objectively true
The artistic aspect of an autobiography is more important than factual accuracy.
Passage Style
13.
Which one of the following █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████████
a
In autobiographical writing, ██ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████
The author never questions whether there’s any sense to the concept of truth. She questions what specific meaning we have in mind when discussing truth, but this isn’t the same as questioning whether there’s any sense to the concept of truth.
b
Given the unreliable ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ███ ████████████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████████████ █████ ███████████
The question isn’t about whether authors can ever know they are being factually accurate. It’s about what exactly “truest memory” refers to — factual accuracy or emotional significance.
c
If there are ████ ██ ██ ████████████████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████████ █████████████
Passage B doesn’t discuss filling gaps with plausible lies. It discusses memories that are factually false but are actually felt/believed; this isn’t the same as making up a lie to fill a gap.
d
Should autobiographical authors ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██████
The question is not about whether authors should care about representing “truth.” The question is about what exactly representing “truth” means for autobiographers.
e
Does truth in ████████████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████████ ██ ██████████ ███████████
Passage B presents a memory that is false but more emotionally significant and a memory that is true but less emotionally significant. By asking which memory is truest, the author means to ask whether “truest memory” is supposed to refer to factual accuracy or whether it’s supposed to refer to the significance of the emotions felt.