Self-study
P1
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
P2
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Supporter ·
Elevate James' to high literature
Critics ·
Find her pretentious and tiresome
Example of Critics ·
Waugh and Oakes
P3
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Author as Supporter ·
Good writing; convincing characters; pleasurable descriptions
Author as Critic ·
Distracting; thin plot devices; misplaced interests
P4
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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
7.
The author characterizes the position ██ ████ ███████ ██ █
a
Critics of literature ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████████
Keep in mind that we’re being asked about the critics’ perspective here, not the passage author’s. The critics aren’t comparing the talents of critics and novelists—they’re just commenting on the writing of one novelist, P. D. James. They think James
b
Critics should hesitate ██ █████████ ███████ ████████
Keep in mind that we’re being asked about the critics’ perspective here, not the passage author’s. The critics aren’t commenting on what critics should or shouldn’t do—they’re saying what P. D. James shouldn’t do. They think she
c
P. D. James's ██████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████
There’s no reference to the English landed gentry in the passage. The only references to James’s characters are extremely general (she features detectives, murderers, victims, and bystanders), and no one suggests that she should adjust her focus on any of those character types.
d
Detective fiction should ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████████ ████████ ██████
The author calls the views of some critics an “inverted snobbery” because those critics
e
P. D. James ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████ ██████████ █████████
The critics don’t comment on James’s portrayal of violence. They just comment on how she abandons the conventions of the detective genre—conventions like laying out and then solving a mystery. The subject of violence and how it’s portrayed doesn’t come up in the passage.