PrepTest 101 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 6

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Wherever the crime novels of P. D. James are discussed by critics, there is a tendency on the one hand to exaggerate her merits and on the other to castigate her as a genre writer who is getting above herself. ███

Intro Topic · Disagreement over James' novels

Some exaggerate her merits; others castigate her as merely a genre writer

Author's Comment · Perhaps disagreement arises from an unnecessary tension in fiction

Supporter · Elevate James' to high literature

Critics · Find her pretentious and tiresome

Example of Critics · Waugh and Oakes

Author as Supporter · Good writing; convincing characters; pleasurable descriptions

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Author as Critic · Distracting; thin plot devices; misplaced interests

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Author's Explanation · James feels constrained by the crime-novel genre

Recommends that James move beyond it and into the mainstream novel.

Passage Style

Critique or debate

It can be inferred from ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ███████████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████████ ██

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

Note that we’re being asked about view of the passage author, not the view of the novelist, P. D. James. The passage author touches on the traits of detective fiction a few times, noting that it places importance on advancing the plot in a clear manner and reaching a clean resolution.

concern for the ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████

Misdirection. The passage author says James does this—not traditional detective fiction.

transparent devices to ███████ ███ ████

Misdirection. There’s no suggestion that plot devices are ever transparent. The only thing the author says about plot devices is that James’s are pretty contrived and that this is a sign of how she’s cramped by the crime genre. This suggests that crime novels would usually have better devices to advance the plot, but it doesn’t suggest anything about the “transparency” of those devices. What is transparent in typical crime novels, though, is how the detective manages to solve the crime. The author takes James’s lack of transparency there as another, separate sign that she’s cramped by the genre. So although the author does talk about both transparency and plot devices, they’re not related to each other.

29%

the attribution of █████████ ██ ███ █████████

Anti-supported. The passage author suggests that solving crimes through intuition is an exception to the norm for detective fiction. He states that in James’s novels, the reader is often left just having to assume that the detective solved the crime through intuition, and he uses this point as support for why detective fiction isn’t a great fit for James. So the author must believe that detective fiction typically offers other reasons, rather than intuition, for how the detective solved the crime.

the straightforward assignment ██ ███████████ ███ ███ █████

Strongly supported. The passage author calls James’s decision to leave questions unanswered and distribute guilt among various parties a “rebellion” against the “neatness” of detective fiction. If ambiguity and spreading culpability around is against the norms of detective fiction, we can infer that detective fiction is traditionally more straightforward and clear in assigning culpability for the crime.

59%

attention to the ████████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████████

Misdirection. James’s supporters say that James herself does this. Nothing in the passage suggests that traditional detective fiction does this.

PrepTest 101 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 6

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